Luckysteal
by outerelf
Summary: He was the worlds best and greatest thief. Now that the war has started, he finds himself in the most unusual situation...
1. Chapter 1

The black figure crouched on the wall, optics surveying the house. A slow smile creped across his facial plate as he considered what he was about to do. Wouldn't it be a nice step up?

A patrolling guard below him stop to look around. The figure above watched him piteously. He had no intention of sparing anyone. The gun rose and shot with deadly accuracy. The guard dropped, and the figure jumped down next to him, checking the pulse. Still beating strongly, and…

The mech looked up, his visor sucking in the light. The darkness that surrounded him was working in his favor as he heard the sound of turbo hounds shifting in the dark. With footsteps soft enough not to startle a deer, the mech moved into the inky blackness of the night.

* * *

The red and white Lamborghini rubbed his optics tiredly as he considered ignoring the mech who was currently screaming at him. He was exhausted from putting in a solid three days work on the security systems, and now he had been called up.

He did have an idea over what he had been called up for. "…Your security system that I paid good money for was absolutely useless! A good amount of money and rare, precious items were stolen! I demand recompense!"

"You have a warranty on them don't you?" The mech asked, optics glinting. "Demand recompense from them. MY warranty lasts for a single stellar cycle, and it's only over redoing the security systems, including replacing any broken cameras or equipment."

The one who had hired him shut off mid monologue, vocalizer grating into a thin whine. "Now… I'll get working on your security system."

As the Lamborghini walked off, a bundle of wires in his hand, he pulled out a map to the house. A police officer fell into line with him as the Lamborghini ducked under the cordoned off area. "Red Alert, correct?"

"Yes, I am."

"Very well, we need you to pull off the images off the cameras. There must be some sort of image caught on the cameras."

Red Alert competently pulled off the data on the cameras, and transferred the images to the files the police had waiting. "Here you go."

The police officer nodded, his paint catching the light. Red Alert began searching the cameras for what made them malfunction. He rocked back onto his heels, a scowl appearing on his face. The police officer assigned to him to make sure he didn't mess up the scene asked, "What's the matter?"

"These cameras weren't touched."

"What-"

"Most thieves I've found usually do something to the cameras that they can see, from destroying them to rewiring them. These cameras were untouched."

Red Alert looked around the several cameras that lay scattered around him, optics narrowing. "I'll have to get someone else to look over this. Can I take them?"

"No, the chief of police said you could fix them up, but you can't take them until we had a chance to run a simulation test. We'll need you for that."

"The security director who usually runs this place should be able to do it-"

"He disappeared and hasn't been found again. We're guessing it's him, and since you're the one who designed the security systems, it's up to you to run them."

Red Alert nodded, bundling away his materials. He still had the rest of the house to go over, and police were crawling everywhere. He wasn't going to leave out his valuable tools for the police to take as he went to the next group of cameras. "Have you already had someone come through to inspect the cameras?"

"Yes, though most of our experts who can retrieve the information properly are out. That's why we have you doing it."

Red Alert paused at the next small group of cameras, optics considering them. The police officer handed him the file to transfer the memory to, which Red Alert took. He stared up at the cameras for a long few moments more, before reaching up to gently detach them from the cradles.

Behind him he could hear the police talking to each other, commenting on small things, trying to decide whether it was the thieves or the regular house-cleaning crews fault. He didn't pause as a mech came running in. He did pause however as the mech began babbling.

"Sir- Sir! Our afts are screwed! Did you see what the media is printing about us now?"

The police officer frowned as he took the datachip from the other, and began reading it aloud. "Thief Sneaks Into Sparkshafts Home. Today in one of the most mind-boggling cat burglaries ever attempted, the well-beloved actor in several of the best movies including _Spark In My Heart, Count Von Genn, _and _Trapped With Organics _had his house broken into and several items stolen. An anonymous source said that Sparkshafts props from the movies, along with some top secret data about the next moves were stolen. Police have so far refused to comment on the case, and speculation is running wild over who committed it. Sparkshafts fans have all been gathering, each in a desperate bid to prove that it wasn't them, and to catch the thief who-"

The police officer threw down the datachip. "WHO THE SLAG LEAKED THIS INFORMATION THAT THE HOUSE WAS ROBBED?"

Complete silence fell. The police officer, frustrated, began to speak again when Sparkshafts voice spoke from behind him. "I did."

The officer turned, optics narrowing. The handsome mech behind him smiled blindingly. "I'm sorry, did I do something wrong? I leaked it in hopes that my fans would be able to help track down the thief."

Red Alert, safe in his own corner, snorted. The police officer did not have such a luxury. Red Alert tuned both out as he continued working on the cameras.

0o0o0o0o0o0

The black, dark figure tossed the statue onto the table casually. "You asked for it?"

The small group of mechs stared at the statue in stupefied horrification. "You- you can't be serious. You'll be caught in a heartbeat!"

The mech said nothing. One out of the group got enough courage to actually touch the statue and start exploring it. "How did you do it?"

The mech didn't say anything. "What is your name anyways?"

The mech smirked. "Well, in the media I am now being called Luckysteal. I suppose that's a good of name as any."

One of the mechs placed down the statue, gesturing around the miserably small room. "And then why are you here. This place is tiny, and we-"

"You all know the greatest thieves and burglars in this city. Ever thought of putting that information to good use?"

The three mechs looked at Luckysteal closely. "What do you mean?"

"Every mech has there own special ability. Some can get to contacts easily, some can find research easily, and others can develop new types of equipment easily. Others are plain useless unless you se them to grunt work like doing the actual stealing. Have you ever thought of gather them all together?"

"Are you talking about some sort of thieves-" The mech paused, unsure of the word he wanted.

Luckysteal nodded. "A thieves guild. A guild where all thieves can gather together and help each other. A place to share information."

The mechs were silent for a moment. "That- That would be a risky business. If any of them were caught, they would be questioned and maybe forced to tell who told them what."

Luckysteal leaned close. "Not if we organized a party to rescue the mechs or femmes afts. And, more especially if we were careful about who we picked up. I'm not talking about any common thief can join, only those that have the skills that we can use."

Silence fell for a few long moments. "It… could work. But there are problems. If we do it in just one city-"

"Who said just one city?" Luckysteal asked. The black visor across his optics glinted in the light as he leaned forward. "I'm going to establish it across the planet."

* * *

_A/N: I cannot begin to tell you how long I've worked on this, nor could I even begin to tell you how many bunnies are mashed and mangled to fit this story. I can say that I am glad for the bunny farm to give me such things to kill. And, this is my 100th story! I'm going have to clean out some of them... Anyways, please review!_


	2. Chapter 2

Red Alert toyed with his energon cube, optics turned off. "You are to go to the newest city where Luckysteal has been located. It's a city he's already hit once before, but since he's already hit the major cities, he's probably going back to see if its any better then last time he visited."

Red Alert nodded wearily, before one optic onlined to look up at the police officer. "Remind me again why I have been carted around after Luckysteal? I am rather certain that I am not the resident expert on him."

The police officer muttered something, before reminding Red Alert, "You've been on his tail since four vorns ago when he first began stealing. You do realize he's got one of the longest streaks for not getting caught, after stealing multiple times."

"I thought several other people have claimed that title."

"If he can hold out until the end of the vorn, he'll claim the title. And the end of the vorn is about fifty cycles away, so it's not very long at all. Especially since he seems to love waiting that long in-between jobs."

Red Alert sipped at the cube, the first sip he had taken since getting it nearly an orn ago. The energon was cold and turning stale. "Nobody cares anymore."

The officer laughed hollowly. "That's what you think. The public eats his exploits up like one of those cheep literature novels. They all want to know who he is, how he avoided capture for so long, etc. They even have a fan site of him-"

The energon in Red Alerts mouth spewed out. "Fan site?"

"Yep. You probably didn't realize it because you've been too busy looking, but my own bonded visits the site every day. And since she lives with me-"

The officer broke off. "Here, do you want me to show you some of the things we've been getting?"

"Just media titles please." Red Alert said, sitting up straight in his chair.

The mech handed off the chips, and Red Alert began leafing through the files. The titles screamed 'highly-daring' and 'incredibly smart'. His lips compressed. "This is absolute hogwash. I've been after him for nearly four vorns, and if he's pushing his luck like that then he's stupid."

The officer shook his head. But he couldn't help but agree with what Red Alert was saying. "We have a police officer that's coming to pick you up. From the sound of it, he's brand new to the task force, but amazingly smart. This might just be what we need to break the deadlock we've been in with Luckysteal."

Red Alert made a slight noise, setting aside the cube. "When is he going to pick me up?"

The door slid open; Red Alert didn't bother looking up. It had to be either Shocklight or Electricsteam as they were the only ones who were assigned to the case.

Although Luckysteal was well known among those in the media, the police had given up nearly a vorn after the famous burglar had appeared. Now they kept up a token force, but most police were concentrated on helping to keep the thin, stretched line between law and lawlessness solid. It was hard work for the understaffed, badly paid officers. Bribes were easily passed, and even the common citizen knew that it was just easier to bribe the police officers from doing anything.

So it was with great surprise Red Alert realized with a start that he couldn't recognize the mechs footsteps. He looked up warily, CPU rapidly running through the possibilities of who it could be-

A police officer stood there, his white paint glinting in the bright lights. Red Alerts optics shuttered once in surprised stupefaction. The police mech standing there was sleeker and newer looking then the other mechs. _Newbie indeed. Primus, he looks fresh off the rack. Primus he's rather familiar looking as well- _Red Alert firmly broke off the train of thought before it could go any further.

"Prowl, reporting here to pick up Red Alert."

Red Alert stood up as the monotone voice swirled around the room. "I'm Red Alert. You're here to pick me up?"

"Yes."

Words burst from Red Alert before he could stop it. "What are you of all mechs doing on board this case? Who did you manage to make mad enough that they'd assign you to this case?"

Prowls optic ridge rose. Red Alert muttered under his breath at the look, before looking at the other police officer. The other mech cleared his vocalizer awkwardly. "Being assigned to this case has gotten a bad reputation. You're guaranteed to have the rest of your job career go down the drain. Nobody is assigned to this case unless you manage to piss off your commander bad enough that he assigns you to it. I'll have to agree with Red Alert here. What are you doing on this case? You're new and young enough that you should be on a solvable, smaller case."

Prowls door wings twitched. However his monotone voice said softly, "I can solve this case I believe. All I need for him to do is strike."

Red Alert shook his head. "Good luck with that. He should strike in another five cycles, if he doesn't decide to be ornery. Where, I can't tell you."

Before Prowl could say anything, Red Alert began walking out of the room. "I'll give you a full rundown on the information later. Just let me pack up what few possessions I have left."

Prowl allowed Red Alert to walk on by, before turning to the police officer. He didn't give an indication of his feelings, but the mech could guess what he was wondering. After all, he had wondered it himself upon the first meeting of Red Alert.

"Red Alert, although he may seem odd, is our best expert on Luckysteal. He's been to every single crime scene where Luckysteal has even been hinted at. What small amount of information we have on Luckysteal we give all credit to him."

The police officer chewed on his lower lip for a moment, "You're new, so I guess I'll warn you. Don't even think about actually catching Luckysteal. We have no funding, he moves around too much, and the public is too protective. They all want to hear what he'll do next."

Prowl nodded, optics glinting feral in the light. "The higher they go, the faster and harder the fall."

0o0o0o0o0o0

The completely black mech slipped into the room, optics traveling over the rambunctious crowd. He could hear insults being traded in one corner, while in another two mechs made out. Silently he eased his way through the crowd, not drawing any attention to himself.

At last he found whom he was looking for. With an inward sigh he sat down next to the smaller, silvery mech. "Well? Did you get the information?"

"Yep, I did. Old Ramble was once a good trader. He sells spare parts to hospitals, but- I've found that several of his operations buy younglings and then when the parts are needed they'll rip it out of the younglings while they're still living to keep the parts nice and fresh. He stopped after awhile once the police pulled off the raid, however it's been picking up again."

The head tilted. "Where?"

The silver mech shrugged. "Search me Chief. He's keeping it as quiet as the pits though. Took nearly an entire two gallons of high-grade and careful questioning to get the information I got, and at the best that's sketchy."

'Chief' nodded, visor hiding what he felt. "True. Any chance of you finding out more?"

The mech shook his head. "Nope. I left the crowd, and there were instantly four or five mechs on my trail. I just barely managed to shake them off. I'm going have to lay low for awhile."

The black mech nodded, standing up. "Alright, I'll just check on the technology department, make sure my acting chief is ready to take over, and then I'll be leaving the thieves guild in his hands."

"Sure he's the right mech? I could do much better."

A soft snort dispelled the weak protest. "You were caught nearly every single time you bulled off a burglary, although you could get the information just fine. Stick to research, and content yourself with getting a third of the spoils."

A hand waved in the air. "Alright, alright, I get it already. Good luck in the next city chief."

"I already established the thief's guild there. I'm merely going back to see if there might be some new information on what I want."

The silvery mech decided to take a chance. "Why are you asking about those mechs that deal in spare parts anyways? They don't make as much money as you'd think-"

"One of them stole something from me." Came back the dangerous reply. "I'm going to take it back."

A shiver ran down the mechs back as Chief stood up to stroll off. Chief rarely got that angry, but when he did, it was bad news for whoever made him mad. The mech vowed inwardly to keep his auditory receptors open. No need to make it look as if he was helping them.

Several mechs finally realized that the mech was there, and several called out, "Hey, Luckysteal!"

The mech turned, arms crossing impatiently. "I'm on a bit of a schedule. What is it?"

"Did you hear who just got assigned to your case?"

Luckysteals head shook. The mech who was talking took a deep rattling intake. "Prowl."

"Prowl?" Someone murmured in the back.

"Yeah, the same mech that managed to nail old Flare."

Luckysteal stiffened. "Prowl managed to convict Flare? Flare, the mech that had nearly a thousand different disguises?"

The other mech nodded desperately. "That's right Chief! What are you going to do now?"

Luckysteal turned around. "I am going to pay a little visit to the equipment department."

He stepped along the dimly lit hallway quickly, well used to the twisting, turning uneven pathway. It had been built just for the purpose of tripping up anyone new. "Hey, Welder?"

"Luckysteal!" A grin split the mechs face as he looked up from where he was muttering. Luckysteal smirked as he remembered how he had found the genius mechanic nearly starving out on the streets. Nobody would hire him simply because he didn't have the proper registration forms.

Luckysteal had put him in charge of developing new technology to break through all security systems designed. It had paid off well.

"I was wondering if you'd come before you left. I got the coolest new thing. You know how they have those new infrared security systems? Well, I developed a new tool to get around them. If you use it, it'll reflect the beams back using the most amusing-"

Luckysteal took the long, black cylinder object. "Simply point and press the button on the handle. I've already had someone else test it out."

Luckysteal subspaced it, before questioning, "Have you seen Shiftingblaze? He's supposed to be here, and I'm going to have him take over for me here."

"Oh, finally trusting someone else to take over?"

"I don't trust him, but I do know he won't make a move until he feels sure enough, and that should take awhile."

Welder shook his head. As far as he knew, Shiftingblaze worshiped the ground Luckysteal walked on. Most of the mechs did actually, due to the fact that he had pulled their afts out of a tight spot more then once. And his incredible reputation. Not many had even thought of stealing from some of the more high security places, and Luckysteal had done it multiple times without getting caught. Most burglars were now becoming a little bit bolder on what they were stealing-

Luckysteal turned, weapon pointing right between the optics of the taller, bigger mech. "There you are Shiftingblaze. I'm headed back to Iacon. Take care of duties here."

Shiftingblaze looked about ready to panic for a moment. "Take over duties here?"

Luckysteal nodded, muttering. "Gotta get to Iacon and check how the guild is doing elsewhere."

Welder took pity on the still nearly panicked expression, "You'll do fine."

Luckysteal checked his comm. link as it dinged. "Hmm, time for departure."

Before either of them could object, Luckysteal had vanished.

* * *

_A/N: Second chapter, several more to go... Sorry that it took me so long to get this next chapter up. Someone pointed out a major problem which required me to do so major rehauling on my work..._


	3. Chapter 3

Red Alert slid into the seat next to Prowl, holding nothing. Prowls optic ridge rose. Red Alert caught the look and shrugged. "I don't carry much. Just the notes I've made on the case and a few essentials. The rest are mailed after me usually."

Prowl nodded, and Red Alert drew out the notes he had made on the case with a suspicious look around him. There was nobody nearby however. Apparently Prowl was the only one to pick him up. "These are my notes."

Prowl took the notes, and his optic ridges rose as he looked them over. There were pictures along with the words, and some of the pictures had items circled. Scrawled along the margins were notes about various items that had been found on the ground surrounding the area. There were also notes about possible suspects, and why they had either been cleared or not cleared.

Red Alerts head cocked to one side as he regarded Prowl intently. Prowl set down the notes carefully. "It says here that no one noticed the way all of the cameras were wired-"

Red Alert nodded, pulling the notes closer to him. He tapped a couple of pictures, "You see these cameras? They were in two separate cities, by two separate security directors. That means they were tampered with."

"How so? I would think that factory made cameras would-"

"Usually yes, but security directors, when they can get away with it, usually mess with the cameras in separate ways. That way when another security director comes to take over, they left their mark. It makes it easier for us to identify who had originally installed the security systems before. That way we can get together and collaborate on where and what the mech installed."

Prowl watched Red Alert intently. "Why did they discount it?"

"Because they said that the security systems were not touched. Nothing to show they were touched. But if the mech knew where the cameras were, and had the right equipment- Well, have you been keeping abreast of the news among those in the underground?"

Prowl shook his head. "I've been mostly assigned to murders before this. Not a burglar."

Red Alert nodded, and flipped out a long, black, cylinder. "Do you recognize this?"

Prowl shook his head again. "This can get thieves past infrared security. And a common everyday thief had it. We only just got wind of it now."

Frustration was evident in Red Alerts face. "He's always one step ahead of us! Always! And that slagging pit-spawned mech refuses to be caught."

Prowl slid back the data towards him, scanning the time Luckysteal had been in each city. Then he noted the names of the cities himself. "Is he searching for something?"

Red Alerts optics shuttered, as he looked at Prowl. "Searching?"

"Yes. Look, he spends about a third of a vorn in each city, and then left for the next major city. In that time he hits every major mech where there is even a whiff of scandal about them."

"Of course. So, what is he looking for?" Red Alert asked the sky, "Certainly not for money. He could've robbed all of the banks by now. Not for the fame either I don't think…"

Prowls optics was drawn back to the black cylinder. "Technology maybe? If he…"

Prowl stopped as he was struck by a sudden thought. His optics narrowed as he considered it. Red Alert looked at Prowl. "What?"

"While Luckysteal was there, did crime rates rise or fall?"

"Rose of course. Everyone and his brother thought if Luckysteal could do it so could they. Worse nightmare of any security director."

"I see."

Despite Red Alerts urgings, Prowl said nothing more on that subject instead he turned the conversation bluntly to the types of machines thieves were using to creep past security lately.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Luckysteal leaned against the wall, optics surveying the large house. He had stepped up his original date by a few cycles due to the fact that a new person had been assigned to his case.

He sighed. _It's probably a bad idea for me to step it up when I'm not ready, but this should be a warning for Prowl. Or whatever his name is. I'm pretty sure it was Prowl. I wonder if he'll realize what message I'm trying to make._

Luckysteal reached into his subspace for the black cylinder before realizing that it wasn't there. _Aw slag. _It was completely embarrassing that this should happen to him. Especially now.

Silently he slid out a prototype of the cylinder, making a mental note to get back the cylinder before they managed to crack how Welder had managed to do such a thing.

Luckysteal walked down the hallways, optics scanning the area carefully, and auditory receptors strained for any sound that would be out of place. He stopped, hearing the soft footsteps echoing down the hallway, throwing a quick glance around. There were no doors. Desperate he ran his hands along the walls, hoping for some sort of secret passage as the footsteps grew closer.

His fingers caught on a small latch, and gratefully Luckysteal darted into the secret passage. The footsteps walked by him without pausing. Luckysteal turned to face the secret passage, a smirk crawling across his face.

Now that the secret passage was here, there was no reason to walk the hallways where he might actually get caught. He'd have to be careful however, no telling how old the passage was. There might be some sort of booby traps left.

He stopped as he came to a set of well used stairs. They were clean and well lit, indicating that stairs found in the middle of house in a secret passage was normal. And that many mechs used it. Luckysteal grimaced, but carefully began following the stairs, wondering where it led.

He was getting into a dangerous zone now. He had no idea what was beyond this, unlike the times when he usually stole from the mechs. He paused just before the end of the stairs, optics scanning the area. He could find nothing, nor could he hear anything.

Luckysteal rounded the corner, and stopped dead.

A factory lay sprawled before him, made to manufacture fake money. Or maybe not so fake, considering Luckysteal could see that they were probably stolen from the treasury. But they lay gleaming in the dim light. The soft click of a weapon made Luckysteal freeze.

"Come here to steal from me again? I won't let you. You caught me off guard the first time, but I won't be caught like that again. You shouldn't of come-"

As the mech talked, Luckysteal stared ahead. In front of him was reflected the mech holding the gun. The other mechs optics shifted away from him, and Luckysteal seized his chance.

With a speed that surprised the mech, Luckysteal turned, hand chopping down onto the hand holding the gun. The mech dropped it, and Luckysteal hurriedly subspaced a small stunner, slapping it against the mechs neck.

The mech dropped like a stone. For a long few moments he stood, staring down at the mech, and suddenly he smirked. He picked up the mech, and began dragging him away.

0o0o0o0o0

Prowl knocked on the door, wondering if Red Alert would be up at this time of night. He had seen a light turned on, but that meant nothing. Just as he was beginning to think no-one was inside, a voice drifted out, "One minute."

Prowl waited impassively as there was the sound of someone walking around the room, and at last Red Alerts head stuck out. "What is it? I was just about to go into recharge."

"The black cylinder you gave us was stolen. And another house was broken into."

Red Alerts jaw dropped. "S-stolen? HOW? And what's this about another house being broken into?"

"Luckysteal apparently went off schedule. Not only did he hit our base to steal back the black cylinder, but he also hit Sparkwarms house." Prowl paused for a moment. "Sparkwarm is currently being accused of forging money."

"Him? Hmph. I knew something was fishy about him," Red Alert grumbled; before he slid open the door all the way. "Come on in. Give me a few moments to dig out my notes-"

Prowl stepped past Red Alert, and walked into the main room. The berth was set up right against the wall, unused. "Why is the berth unused?"

"I had to go and tie up some business. There are people here I know that I wanted to visit."

Prowl nodded, optics narrowing thoughtfully after Red Alert as Red Alert moved around the room, muttering to himself. Red Alert at last dug up the notes from beneath the berth, and nodded to Prowl. "Let's go."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sparkwarm glared obstinately at the police officer, as newspaper reporters gathered outside of the building. Several police officers had slightly strained faces as they watched the growing crowd of fans nervously. They'd never be able to get over the bad publicity if they had to break up the crowd.

Never was the reporters' kind to the police. Red Alert watched the growing crowd with apprehension of his own. Several had huge signs, and were beginning to hold them up, protesting loudly about the treatment the much beloved actor was getting. A couple was calling for the capture of Luckysteal.

Prowl, without blinking, flipped on his sirens while pushing through the crowd. The crowd instantly turned on him, glowering ferociously. Red Alert stiffened and kept walking, his optics nervously scanning the crowd as they moved. When the reached the cleared platform in front of the building, he began the pre-prepared speech that all police used to clear up the crowds, flipping the sirens off.

Nobody budged. Red Alert slid into the building, muttering, "They're going to attack and sell us for spare parts. Just wait and see."

"They cannot sell us for spare parts." Prowl pointed out. "Your body would be collected before then."

Red Alert shot Prowl a glance, before shaking his head. "That's what you think. You never know with crowds-"

Prowl said nothing, letting Red Alert ramble on. "Red Alert-" He broke in when there was at last a lull in the conversation, "I'm going to be out tonight."

"Why?" Red Alert questioned suspiciously.

"I have an idea on how to take down Luckysteal. But I can't say it out loud."

Red Alert looked at Prowl suspiciously. "How are we supposed to know that you haven't sold out?"

Prowl said nothing, his CPU lost in the maze of his plans. Red Alert turned away, still muttering suspiciously.


	4. Chapter 4

Luckysteal sat down on the chair, accepting the energon cube from the mech that slid it over. He didn't drink from it however. He knew better then that. "So, come back for round two?" The mech questioned gently.

"I have the guild set up all across the planet, and I still can't find what I want." Luckysteal frowned. "At this rate, I'm not going to find it."

He fell silent, brooding. The other mech was silent for a few moments, before perking up. "Ah, we got a new member. Quiet fellow, but smart. He might have the information you want."

Luckysteals head tilted to one side as he considered his options. "Alright, where is he?"

The other mech looked around the medium sized yet still crowded room. "There, in that corner."

Luckysteal stiffened. It was a handsome, sleek Datsun, with silvery blue paint. One that looked extremely familiar. "Him?"

"Yes."

Luckysteal stared at the mech for a long moment; mentally weighing the risks and benefits of getting to know the mech. At last he stood up. "Go get us a medium job. I'm going to test him out personally."

"Ah."

The mech vanished into the crowd, to find a medium hard burglary job that someone might want done. Luckysteal ignored his screaming intuition that said it was a bad idea and sat down next to the mech. "New?"

The mech regarded him, before nodding. Luckysteal nodded. He took an inward calming breath. He could at least pretend to be sociable and friendly. After a moment he dropped the idea of being friendly. Being friendly invited too much trouble.

"I'm Luckysteal."

That made the mech regard him intently, optics trying to pierce the black visor and paint. Luckysteal leaned against the wall, taking comfort from the solid surface. "Are you free tonight?"

"Yes."

"Good. Because I'm going to test out your skills."

The mech blinked as Luckysteal got up onto his feet. "What's your name?"

"Redline."

That made Luckysteals optic ridge rise, but he didn't comment on it. Redline was a common enough name. Especially ever since that best selling novel where the main characters name was Redline.

A mech came walking out of the crowd, bearing a datapad. "Here you go."

Luckysteal took it, before handing it off to Redline. Redline read over the data. "Tonight?"

"Of course. Best time."

"The data is through, but there are flaws with the information."

Luckysteal smirked. "I know. That is what I am going to be testing you on."

Redline looked down at the data optics narrowing in thought, before at last nodding. "Are you going to be helping?"

"Only if you screw up and need your skid-plate saved." Luckysteal murmured, not loud enough for Redline to hear.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl flicked the lock breaker back into subspace, acutely aware of the soft footsteps behind, following him. He hadn't thought when he first made up the plan to have his target test him for his abilities.

He slid along the wall, optics on the lookout for any footsteps. Luckysteal followed behind, barely visible, even with the lighting provided. _There was a five percent chance of him meeting me today. Five percent. So either there's a rat or he recognizes me somehow._

Luckysteal broke the silence. "Why are you a thief? You don't see that type."

Prowl paused before dismantling a camera. Either the security guards were blind, or they were sleeping. He had taken apart every camera, wanting to set off the alarms. They weren't setting off. _Just my day._ "I have my reasons."

"Ah, looking for something?"

_Interesting. Does that mean he's looking for something? _"Perhaps."

"Have you ever heard of a business called The Basstand?"

Prowl shook his head, filing away the name. Maybe someone else did. Luckysteal mumbled under his breath, and the alert went off at last. Luckysteal turned around. "See you outside."

Before Prowl could even shutter his optics, Luckysteal seemed to disappear. Prowl stared after in a slightly dazzled appreciation of the easiness of the disappearance- Something inside of him screamed to get moving.

Prowl quickly began moving, his CPU struggling with where to place the name he had just gotten. The sound of police approaching reached his auditory receptors, and he hurtled outside.

Without pausing he transformed, taking off down a corner. He didn't see the shadow perched above him, nor did he see the visor glint in the deep, dark light before the mech vanished.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl looked up as Red Alert came into the room, shoulders slumped. Red Alert collapsed down next to Prowl, optics staring off into the distance. "Well, that failed miserably."

"What did?"

"I spent nearly the entire night trying to convince the head librarian in charge of the documents that I was actually helping to investigate Luckysteals' case so I needed information on the mech, but she didn't believe me."

Prowls optic ridge rose. "I thought you knew all the information."

"I was trying to get more information on the mechs he stole from." Red Alert frowned. "I was reduced to a simple search instead, and I don't like what I found. About half of the mechs that Luckysteal has hit have been engaged in illicit activities. The other half might be."

Prowls optics narrowed as he considered Red Alert. "Red Alert… have you heard of an operation called Basstand?"

Red Alert stiffened, optics going wide. "Where did you hear that name?"

"Last night. I was doing some research of my own. What is it?"

Red Alert shook his head, muttering distractedly to himself. "It couldn't be that it's come back, could it? No, no of course not. Not after all that's happened-"

Prowl waited patiently for several breems, before reminding Red Alert, "What is it?"

Red Alert grimaced. "An illegal operation where they took mechs and chopped them up for spare parts. There was a police raid about many vorns ago that attempted to put a stop to that, but it's unlikely they got all of them. The case is still open."

Prowl nodded, CPU connecting dots and drawing its' own conclusions. He knew exactly what Red Alert was talking about now. Prowl himself no experience with that sort of case, he hadn't even been sparked at that point. Luckysteal however- Prowl did not like what he was thinking. If Luckysteal was the head of the company, then he must either be reviving the company. The thieves' guild could be just to protect his identity-

Prowl stopped his CPU, and took another look. Maybe Luckysteal had his own vendetta against the company? It was certainly a nicer thought then the other, even if it was being overly optimistic.

Red Alert placed a datapad on the table. Prowl looked over the data that had been gathered, CPU now working overtime. "Red Alert, you say that the femme in charge of the library wouldn't let you in?"

"I don't have the proper clearance or authority. Although I've been working on this case longer then anyone else, I'm still technically a civilian."

Prowl stood. "Very well, come along then."

Red Alert, puzzled, but CPU guessing what Prowl might be doing, followed. They walked out of the building and on to the public library, Red Alert furiously thinking, _he can't actually get me in, can he? Why would he get me in?_

His thoughts were abruptly cut off as the library appeared, along with the dreaded femme. It was there Prowl hit a snag.

"He cannot come into the archives! Not only does he have a glitch, but he's also a conspiracy theorist! He might tear up documents-"

Red Alert with an oddly stuffed look on his faceplate stood to one side. Prowl held up a hand. "I swear to you m'am that he will not harm the documents in any way. The information is on datapads anyways- there is a two percent chance of him managing to do anything with the data."

The femme sniffed. "He's still a conspiracy nutcase."

Red Alert twitched. "That shouldn't matter. We need the data."

The femme regarded Prowl intently. Prowl was aware of other patrons of the library regarding them intently, most as discreetly as possible. Red Alert shifted from foot to foot. The femme regarded the two carefully. "I'll hold you responsible for any damage."

"Very well."

Red Alert shot Prowl an odd look, as they were escorted into the back. Prowl glanced back at Red Alert, "Conspiracy nut?"

"It's not my fault that the government decides to hide very important data." Red Alert said primly. Prowl quietly filed Red Alert under a new category in his CPU, somewhere near where his own creators were. They had always been a little paranoid as well.

The femme led them into a large room. "This would be the data you wanted." She hovered for a long moment as Red Alert made a beeline for the shelf. Prowl ignored her as he made his own way to the shelf, leaning over Red Alerts shoulder. Red Alert attempted to edge away.

Prowl reached beyond Red Alert, plucking a datapad off the shelf and settling in. They had a long cycle ahead of them.

About a joor later, Prowl did not like what he was reading. Every single one of the mechs hit had a file open and were currently being investigated for some sort of illegal activity. Other mechs had also managed to suppress the media when they had been hit by Luckysteal.

_Either there is a rat in the police force, or Luckysteal himself is in the police force. If he is, he'd have to be high up to be able to access this level of information. Unless he isn't part of the police force at all, and his own web of contacts in the underground that no one knows about…_

Only one thing was clear to Prowl, and that was that he needed to get closer to Luckysteal.

Red Alert twitched on the other side of the table as he scanned through the files. Prowl randomly selected on, and read it. It was a file on Basstand, written in its highly dry and hard-to-read format.

_(a)Basstand is an illegal operation practicing in the unlawful selling of spare parts that were not donated willingly. It should be noted (see Ref. B) that the said spare parts were taken from younglings or teenaged/nearly full grown mechs. All said mechs are being psychologically examined for any glitches and/or reprogramming due to the fact that they did not wish to be removed._

_(b)It has been determined-_

"What are you doing?"

"I am reading more information on Basstand." Prowl said calmly to the accusing voice. He continued reading as Red Alert stared at him. At last the mech seated himself down next to him.

"Why?"

"I believe that is what Luckysteal is searching for."

"That- that doesn't make any sense though. To steal from all of those famous mechs and femmes to learn information about Basstand when he could just come here."

"I know Red Alert, I know."

It was the entire root of the problem in fact. Luckysteal had to be searching information about Basstand, information he could not get from readily established sources. He had created a network of information through the Thief Guild, but Prowl doubted that it was getting him the information that he wanted. Prowl winced at the memory of the Thief Guild, it hadn't been easy trying to get in. First he had located the best thief he could, and preceded to do a (slightly) clumsy pick-subspace. The thief had caught him of course, but had completely surprised him with the offer of the Thief Guild.

Luckysteal had been busier then anyone had expected.

* * *

_A/n: Alright people... I guess my last chapter was bad that I didn't get a single review on it... Sorry..._


	5. Chapter 5

Luckysteal leaned against the wall, optics surveying the crowd thoughtfully. The entire edge of the group, while boisterous, was slightly sullen. It was a bad sign.

Luckysteals optics spotted Redline coming into the room. Redline stopped, glancing around the room twice before spotting Luckysteal.

A sigh escaped from the black mech as Redline began to make his way back towards him. He had wanted to be alone, without being disturbed badly. "Luckysteal-"

"Shh- someone's going to challenge me soon here."

Redline flicked on his vocalizer to reply, before shutting it off again at the slight headshake from Luckysteal. Another, slighter, smaller mech confronted Luckysteal, "Luckysteal, I have a gear to grind with you."

Luckysteals teeth glinted in the light. "So, I see you finally got your courage up."

Redline watched the two, optics cool. Another mech sidled up to him, "You're the newbie huh?"

"Yes."

"Heh, you probably don't know what's going on then, but that mech there has been attempting to usurp Luckysteals position as Head of the Thief Guild. He's got a lot more people on his side, what with him being so much smaller."

Redline nodded, optics fixated on the two. It made sense, psychologically speaking. The smaller the thief was, the better the chance the thief had at not getting caught. "They got the guild split fifty-fifty right now. Anyone who's seen Luckysteal in action still backs him. I've see them both in action. The other got nothing on Luckysteal."

Redlines head tilted nearer to the mech. "You see, Luckysteal has the guild set up across the entire planet by now. And he's hit places that no one else can even get close to-"

A sudden hush fell as the smaller mech subspaced a small, gleaming statue. "Isn't that from-?"

"That's right; it's from the Ivory Towers. I got it from there, without being caught."

Luckysteal shook his head. "It's a fake."

"No, it isn't-"

Another statue, the exact same, subspaced into Luckysteals hands. "You see Soundslip, the mechs in Ivory Tower wanted to have this, but the mech who had it refused to give it up. So, they created a fake one nearly the exact same as the first one, and claimed it was the real deal. In reality though it wasn't, so they never bothered to set up actual security, thinking the reputation alone would keep mechs away."

Soundslips vocalizer struggled to fully say what he was thinking. A murmur cascaded around the room. Redline watched as several began edging closer to Luckysteals' side, casting nervous glances at Soundslip.

Luckysteal subspaced the statue, shaking his head. "Now… Are you so sure you want to be challenging me Soundslip?"

Soundslip mutely shook his head. Luckysteal nodded. "Good. This is your first warning Soundslip. Try something like this again and I'll kick you out of the thieves' guild."

The smaller mech fled before Luckysteal, disappearing into the crowd. "Now then, I believe we have work to do. Where's Redline?"

Four other hands raised their hands the same time Redline did. Luckysteal looked between the five mechs, before shaking his head. "Alright, the oldest Redline."

A mech taller then Luckysteal melted out from the crowd. "I just got some new information. You know how I hit Sparkwarms house and discovered a money forgery?"

"Yessir."

"There is someone else who also has a forgery, and I want to hit them."

A murmur ran through the crowd. "The only thing is, they have the newest security system designed by Red Alert."

A groan rose up from several of the members. The mech who had taken it upon himself to educate the newest Redline/Prowl whispered, "Red Alert is the mech that's been after Luckysteal for vorns now. So far the Luckysteal hasn't been caught, but not for a lack of trying on Red's part."

"Is Red Alert's security systems hard?"

"The toughest if they're properly watched. Doesn't do squat if the security guards don't do their part. This is why we usually soften up the mechs a little by sending in a thief and letting them get caught. That way they get sloppy. It must be Redlines turn to be caught."

Luckysteal interrupted the talk. "Wrong. I'm going to be caught."

Jaws dropped. Luckysteal smirked. "I'm going to be caught within the house, and do a horrible escape while I want Redline here to head a party into the forgery room to rip off the minters."

"But- But-"

Luckysteal gestured the other Redline close as he murmured something in his auditory receptor. The other mech nodded, and Luckysteal stepped out into the night. Prowl/Redline watched him go, optics lingering on the form that was so clearly outlined in the light. His CPU snapped back into action as Redline cleared his vocalizer, slightly awkward in front of the curious optics. "Here's what we're going to do-"

0o0o0o0o0o0

Luckysteal stared at the camera as it swiveled back and forth. _C'mon, spot me already- _Some small part of his CPU couldn't believe he was doing this. the other part was much more concerned over the fact that the guards were this lax.A shriek went off, screaming aloud the fact that someone who wasn't supposed to be here, was here. He backed up, catching a glimpse of himself in a mirror before dashing off.

He had brightened up his dark paint with a thin, almost too small to be seen, silver paint. The paint created fake whirls and whorls that confused the optics. Anyone chasing him would be confused as to what type of mech he was. And if he didn't transform then they would never know.

The pounding of feet caught his auditory receptors off to the right. If his data was correct, and he knew it was having visited once before already, then they were two hallways off to the right and attempting to cut him off. He took a sharp left.

Quickly he slid into a small crevice in the wall, hand reaching up to flick on his comm. link. He began to flip through channels, searching for the correct channel. He landed on it.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know- Disappeared completely off the cameras-"

"We're sweeping the first quarter of the house-"

"Should we lock down the entire place?"

"No, not yet. If we do that then we'll lock our employer in with the thief."

"Someone needs to contact the police-"

"How did he get in anyways?"

"Sorry Sir, I had to go and empty out my tanks-"

"You idiot!"

On and on babbled the voices, each cascading into Luckysteal comm. link. At last he switched over to the before established link. "Redline, go."

"Ah, chief, you know that newbie right? Same name as me-"

"NOT over the open air Redline." Luckysteal hissed. "Tell it to me later!"

"Can't wait. The newbie found out that the mech we're supposed to hit has an entirely different operation. He supposedly scams money off of children's services-"

Luckysteal interrupted. "He does that as well. Just hit the mints Redline. I'll take care of everything else."

He froze, auditory receptors catching the sound of feet drawing closer to his blind spot. "Switching off. Remember the plan, and Primus help you if you go off it."

Back on base the mech gulped as the comm. link clicked off ominously.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Luckysteal stepped into the recharge room, optics fixated on the mech that lay peacefully slumbering. There was no security cameras for the entire hallway, and not a single one of the guards knew he had slipped by them to reach the mech.

Cautiously he searched the room for any hidden cameras. He didn't find any, nor any security devices.

At last he stood above the recharging mech staring down at him. The body didn't twitch. Luckysteal toyed with the idea of not doing what he had come to do, before pulling out a small recorder. He flicked on the recorder, and then bent over the other mech, shaking his shoulder.

The mech shot up with a start, Luckysteal clamped one hand on top of the vocalizer, rendering it mute for a few moments. "Listen to me Shockblast, in a few moments I will give you back the use of your vocalizer. You shout for the guards and tomorrow some very embarrassing evidence of the fact that you cheat off of child welfare services will be in every tabloid across Cybertron."

The mechs optics flashed. Luckysteal waited for a beat, before letting go of the vocalizer. "Now, I want to know your connection with Basstand."

"I-"

"Remember the tabloids." Luckysteal purred.

Shockblast revised what he was going to say. "I only provided younglings that were mentally ill to that operation."

"It's still in business, I know it. Where is the base of operations?"

"I don't know! I haven't been in contact with it since the police swarmed all over it and the mechs in charge got arrested."

Luckysteal stared at the mech, visor covering his optics and rendering them unreadable. Shockblast began to panic. "I only cheat off of child welfare now! I gave up that before I could get caught."

Luckysteal stood, glancing at the recorder. Silently he picked it up. "You better not be lying Shockblast. It'll be extra bad for you if you are."

"I'm not! I'm not!" Shockblast said earnestly. "I simply stopped that and moved on."

Luckysteal nodded, before throwing open a window. It was a long drop to the ground, and it would be particularly noisy. He turned back to the frozen Shockblast, eyeing him, before shaking his head inwardly and with a sigh. No matter how tempting it was to drop the mech out of the window, he must be responsible. "Redline?"

"All done."

"Good. Meet me back at base. I got what I came for."

Luckysteal swung out of the window, smirking as Shockblast swallowed oath of surprise. The thud on the ground was loud, but he was gone a moment later, smoothly transforming into his sleek alt mode.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Redline sat quietly in the background watching the other Redline celebrate the successful burglary. The door slid open quietly, and Luckysteal stepped into the room, the silver lines still painted on top of the black.

"Chief, we got the minters."

"Good, I'll deal with them like usual. Here, split up the rewards among those who went."

As the 'second-in-command' began splitting up profits, Luckysteal made his way into the back, before sitting with his back against the wall. The other mech stood up. "Hello Prowl," Luckysteal said softly.

Prowl froze. _Does he know? _"Prowl?"

"Redline is already taken by four other mechs. You are now renamed Prowl," Luckysteal clarified, seeming just for Prowl.

The police officer didn't reply. The information on Shockblast making fake currency had been circumstantial at the best. Now they would never be able to catch him- Luckysteal tossed a small record chip to Prowl. "I believe you know someone who is a police officer correct? I would leave that for Red Alert, but…" Luckysteal shrugged. "I think you may like that."

Prowl brought it up to his auditory receptor. His optics widened ever so slightly as Shockblasts voice cried, "I only cheat off of child welfare now!"

That was the only clip, and it was obvious that before and after the clip it had been edited. But this- This was enough to condemn Shockblast. Prowl looked up, and realized that Luckysteal had vanished.

_What, why did he say that he was going to give it to Red Alert? Is Red Alert working with him? And why is he turning in other mechs? They could point out his secret identity if they ever found out. What is he trying to do?_

Prowl stared at the chip, confused. Luckysteal was a bundle of contradictions. He was a thief. A thief that apparently was some sort of Vigilante. But let the law convict the mechs. Prowl wondered if there was any term to define Luckysteal.

* * *

A/n: Yes, we have now hit chapter five, and thank you all you lovely reviewers who took the time to review the last chapter. Thank you, thank you very much.


	6. Chapter 6

Red Alert glanced up as Prowl slid into the seat next to him. Prowl wondered if Red Alert had gotten any recharge lately. "We've got another case that has potential to be Luckysteal striking once more."

"Oh really, where?"

Red Alert sighed. "Shockblast."

He sounded extremely gloomy about the fact. Prowl nodded, and decided to take a slight plunge. "Red Alert, I did a little research, but I couldn't find any information about Basstand on normal channels."

"No, the government did a huge cover up. Every single one of the major hospitals had unknowingly purchased illegal parts that had been ripped off, and hundreds of other, smaller hospitals had depended on the place to be able to repair those they got. Most companies charge too much for spare parts nowadays, so the hospitals naturally turned to something much, much cheaper when they could."

Red Alert paused, optics buried in remembrance. "That was actually my first mission for working with police other then at a small robbery and turning over the information and burglar. But even if I was considered a crack-pot, I did help find the place, and I was part of the police raid."

"What was it like there?"

"Imagine a school of younglings. A small school. Now imagine all of them crammed into cells so small they have to stand on top of each other, are fed disgusting, rotting energon, and-"

Red Alert broke off. "Even in the end the mechs who had been at the head of the group got away. We got the mech who sold all to the different hospitals and companies, but we missed the most important ones. They somehow managed to slip away."

"What do they look like?" Prowl asked, optics trying to see into Red Alerts optics.

Red Alert shrugged, slightly uncomfortable with the stare. "I-I don't know."

_He's lying. _Prowl immediately thought. _He does know what the mechs look like; he just doesn't want to tell me. Why is he lying?_

The sound of a mech storming through the building made Prowl put aside all other thoughts. He looked up, Red Alert shifted so that his back was more firmly to the wall and he could launch out of his seat at a moments notice. Prowl noticed, but didn't say anything.

He did shift slightly as well as the mech stormed into the room. "I want the Chief of Police, and I want him now."

Prowl cleared his vocalizer. "The Chief of Police is not here right now. I am willing to listen however."

The mech snarled. "Don't you know who I am?"

"You are Shockblast."

"That's right. If I wanted too, I could pull out every single drop of money I have in this force and all of you would be broke. I want the Chief of Police now."

"He is currently unable to meet with you. I will be willing to listen however." Prowl repeated calmly. He had given the clip to the Chief, and left it in his hands to decide whether or not to press charges.

If they accused Shockblast, then they probably would be sentenced to collapse in financial ruin. Shockblast was about to continue on, when Red Alert interrupted, "He's coming."

With a satisfied smirk Shockblast settled back into the seat, confident that he was going to be listened to by the proper authorities. Prowl glanced at Red Alert. Red Alert murmured softly in his auditory receptor, "He is coming, just slowly."

Prowl nodded. Red Alert continued, "Something is wrong with him. I can hear that his footsteps are particularly heavy."

"I believe he has gotten some bad news."

Red Alert nodded, before straightening up to stare warily at Shockblast. Neither moved, and neither had any wish to talk any more then what was necessary. Prowl, as they sat, used on the fact of Luckysteal and Red Alerts odd knowledge of each other.

Luckysteal obviously knew Red Alerts security forces from before hand. Prowl, after working with Red Alert for the past few cycles, knew that Red Alert truly did work hard and over-the-top on his security systems.

Red Alert paradoxically knew about where and when Luckysteal would most likely strike.

And they both knew about Basstand, a crime that was supposedly covered up. And both seemed to trust _him _even if they didn't know him all that well.

Red Alert had a good idea, but how could Red Alert know that he wasn't Luckysteal? Because Luckysteal had began stealing before Prowl was on the security force? Because Red Alert had seen Luckysteal before? Was Red Alert Luckysteal? Maybe someone Red Alert knew was Luckysteal. Maybe Red Alert had come up with the same plan as Prowl and guessed who 'Redline' really was, and seen him with Luckysteal.

Prowl stopped his CPU, and firmly went back towards facts. Luckysteal was Head of the Thieves Guild. He had some of the state-of-the-art technology to break into houses with. Luckysteal was searching for the company Basstand. Luckysteal hit houses with mechs that were later exposed for corruption.

Red Alert, meanwhile, had been working on Luckysteals case since Luckysteal had first began. Never had the two ever been seen together. Red Alert knew unreasonably well when and where Luckysteal would strike. True he'd been off a few times according to the notes- but not enough to count. Red Alert had information on Basstand.

Both were lying in some way or another about something big and important. Luckysteal had to have an inside source in the police force. And Prowl was willing to think that it might just be Red Alert-

Red Alert didn't flinch as he felt Prowls hard gaze rest upon him. He could guess what was going through Prowls CPU. He might not like what it was, but he could guess. Prowl was probably connecting the dots, and seeing Red Alert as someone suspicious. Red Alert could see Prowl finding him suspicious, but he couldn't do the same back. There was something that twitched at his memory about him.

The police chief stepped inside, step confident. "Shockblast, I received word that you were in here."

Red Alert gestured to his pager at Prowls glance. "What might be your trouble?"

Red Alert and Prowl listened carefully as the officer questioned Shockblast. Not once did the mention of the tape come into play. Prowl considered the options the police had if Shockblast did withdraw his money, and decided that it was for the best.

Shockblast at last stood, and the Chief as well. "Oh, Shockblast, we found this laying on our step this morning. I suggest you listen to it and stop what you're doing."

A datachip was placed in Shockblast hands, and the Chief gestured to the two to follow him as he left the room.

Shockblast stared at the chip in horror.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Now, Prowl, Red Alert, the police have decided to accord you more money with which to track down Luckysteal. We need to stop him. The pressure from concerned mechs is becoming hard to bear. As well as the bad publicity."

The mech grimaced slightly. Red Alert said woodenly, "Even if we do bump up the budget it won't do much good. We have to have mechs who are able to catch Luckysteal in the act to get at least one good picture of him."

"And from there we cross reference it. I know Red Alert. We have a larger budget, and more personnel. Where do you suppose he'll strike next?"

"No idea sir. He threw me off balance with hitting Sparkblast house instead of Witchdance. I thought for sure it would be Witchdance."

"Well, tell me when you do learn when." The police officer said.

"I'll probably have an idea within a week."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl had never known that a week could go by so fast. In that amount of time Luckysteal apparently decided he was going to ruthlessly train every single one of the new mechs at properly stealing.

He had taken advantage of the opportunity presented of course to attempt to learn more about Luckysteal, but hadn't learned much. It was impossible to sneak up on him unless one was silent and approaching towards the direct back. Which was usually impossible for Luckysteal always had his back against something solid.

During the week, the idea that Red Alert might be sold out to Luckysteal softened in Prowls CPU. Red Alert was always willing to meet up with him at whatever odd hour it might be to do a little research, even when Prowl called deliberately at the same time Luckysteal was out to go steal something. And Red Alert always had an alibi for whatever he was doing.

Prowl turned as a mech came dashing into the room. "Chief! Chief!"

The mech came sliding to a halt in front of Luckysteal. "We got information. The new guy claims to of worked with Basstand for awhile."

Luckysteal froze in the act of standing. All optics in the room fell on the two mechs. "Basstand. Are you certain?"

"Yessir!"

Luckysteal finished the act of standing up, an almost palpable air of concentration gathering around him. Prowl also stood, optics fixed on Luckysteal. A mech grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved downwards. Prowl, taken by surprise, sat with a loud clatter in the silence of the room.

Luckysteal optics didn't even twitch towards them as he stalked out of the room. A shaken sigh ran through the room when the door closed. "Don't, if you value being in the guild, attempt to disturb him when he's like this. He can get nasty."

"Why is he going after Basstand?"

"You'd have to ask him."

Prowl settled down for the long, long task of waiting. It took around four orns before Luckysteal came back into the room. Prowl hesitated for a moment before standing. Everyone else had left, leaving him alone with the leader.

An opportunity he did not wish to leave alone, but it took two for an opportunity like this to work. "Luckysteal?"

Luckysteal mumbled something, slouching into his seat. "Dead end. Again. Turns out he was lying. Or, he was at least lying when he said that he knew where Basstand is now."

"Why are you going after Basstand?"

"Didn't I tell you before?" Luckysteal said, slightly surprised. "I have a score to settle with them."

"Were you scheduled to taken apart for spare parts?"

"…I-I don't know. Perhaps, yes, maybe…"

Luckysteal stared into the past, thankful for the visor. Prowl was not amused however. "How can you not know?"

How could he not know? Well, for one his own _creators_ were the heads of Basstand. His creators. It still felt odd to think of them as that. That as in 'criminals'. For the longest of times he had thought them an ordinary family. The beautiful, always knowing, always in control mother, and on the other hand, the loving, kind father.

And then, the police raid that had shattered his entire life and his entire view on the world. Within minutes he was staring at hundreds of shattered little bodies that had once held sparks and vitality. When he found his creators about to dissect the next mech, he had nearly screamed in grief. Before he could have pleaded that they were there because of kidnapping or something wild.

There was evidence though. A thousand miles of evidence once they started shifting through the area for clues. Everywhere his creators left behind evidence that this entire operation was started by them, and that they had run it for quiet a few vorns. As long as he'd been alive certainly.

Life destroyed, he fully intended to track down his creators and demand why. From there he could rebuild his life into a terrible parody of his former blissful experience.

A hollow laugh escaped him.

By the time this was over, he would either be behind bars for the rest of his life or killed. He had no illusions. The police officer was edging closer and closer to the truth, and very soon he would have all of it.

Then everything would be over. The charade, his life, and the guild. He only hoped Prowl might show a little bit of mercy upon the skilled technicians and allow them to start over with life.

Prowl interrupted, "Luckysteal, what's the matter, you do know where Basstand is located, don't you? I'm coming with you."

* * *

_A/n: Yes, you did read correctly. Luckysteals creators are in charge of chopping up younglings. _


	7. Chapter 7

Prowl stared long and hard at Luckysteal, who glowered back. "No, you'll be caught in a second, and I'll have to rescue you. You'll ruin everything."

"No, I won't. I'll be your bait like you were for Red Alerts security systems." Prowl offered desperately. Every single one of his logic circuits were clamoring for him not to let the mech out of his sight. There was no telling what might happen if he did.

"I said no." Luckysteal stood, glowering at Prowl. "Don't even attempt following me. I know you're a police officer, and if it wasn't for certain facts, I would've kicked you out long ago."

"Why didn't you?" Prowl demanded, uncaring that Luckysteal had figured out who and what he was.

"Because you'll probably need them for your next job. Knowing how to steal is a very valuable asset to gathering evidence." Luckysteal hesitated for a moment before demanding, "Besides, you knew who I was, didn't you?"

He vanished out the doorway before Prowl could rise another protest. Prowl stared after, until he turned to face the mech standing in the doorway, optics wide. "Where is the base of Basstand?"

0o0o0o0o0o0

Luckysteal stood on the ledge, staring down at the warehouse. It was a rather shadowy, disused looking warehouse. However-

His auditory receptors could hear the soft hum of machinery rising from inside of the place, out of tune with the rest of the place. He shifted from foot to foot slowly, making sure that energon circulated consistently. It would do him no good to attempt to sneak in to create mass mayhem if he couldn't even walk properly.

He shifted slightly, and a hand descended on his shoulder. He wiped around, gun leveling straight into Prowls' face. "What…" was the only word that managed to escape Luckysteal vocalizer, before he cautiously brought down the gun.

Instead he used sign language to ask, 'What are you doing here? How did you find me?'

'I used my resources and asked the mech you interviewed for information on where this place was. You do have a better plan then rushing in there and getting yourself killed, correct?'

Luckysteal nodded. 'I'm not sure of the complete layout, but knowing them, they'll stick close by."

Luckysteals hands hesitated. 'What are you doing here?'

'I came to help you. After that, I'm taking you down.' Prowl signed back. 'You yourself taught me not to allow emotions mix with business.'

For a moment Luckysteal was puzzled, before he at last nodded. 'Very well. I won't come quietly.'

'I know. I know.'

Luckysteal gestured off to his right, 'I believe the door is that way.'

'You're going to just walk right through the door?'

'No.'

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Luckysteal slid through the window as Prowl shoved open the door below him. Nobody glanced up other then a few wary mechs, but they instantly relaxed as they saw Prowl was alone.

Luckysteals optics scanned the room. By necessity they had portioned off the warehouse, erecting flat, metal, plasma proof walls in-between certain areas. He was above them however, so his optics could spot where his creators were.

With a snarl he sped forward, just as Prowl brought up his gun blazing. Even from above he could hear Prowl saying calmly into his comm. link that backup was required and that the entire police force was needed. Now preferably.

He quickly hooked a latch onto the grill before jumping. He landed in front of his creators with a loud thud, knocking out the single guard with a single kick. "Well? What do you have to say for yourselves?" He growled.

The femme, a beautiful sleek mech looked at him in surprise. "Red Alert? Is that you?"

Luckysteal/Red Alert nodded, one hand sliding up the visor. His voice was remarkably steady as he said, "Mother, Father, why are you doing this?"

The femme looked at her husband, who looked back at her. It was one of those perfect gestures that threatened to unsettle Red Alert horribly. It already was. It was the look that passed between the two when they were trying to pass off the telling of some very unpleasant information.

"I'm not a youngling anymore! Why?"

"Truth be," The father said slowly, in the ponderous way he used when speaking the truth, "It was for you at first."

Red Alerts CPU swam horribly. "What?"

"You were born, and no one thought you'd live. And… we borrowed the extra money to get the best doctor, the best of everything, so that you'd live. After that we found ourselves so deeply in debt that we could end up in prison for all of the years of you growing to a full grown mech. We didn't want that either."

Red Alerts vocalizer worked for a moment, when the shrill sirens of police pierced the walls. The two looked at Red Alert steadily, "Red Alert, you have to get us out of here."

"Why should I? You both should go to jail."

"Because you have a brother, and you don't want the same thing to happen to him that happened to you, correct?"

All words that had risen up in Red Alerts vocalizer chocked off. "B-Brother? You- You can't be telling the truth."

Something painful squeezed at his spark. Brother. His very own brother. It was his own private wish that he could have a brother, someone to be with. He had given up on the idea when he became full grown. The age difference would've been so wide they wouldn't of been able to get along as well as he had always imagined.

"We are." The femme assured him.

A sick feeling clawed at his stomach. The mech reminded Red Alert, "The police will be here soon. Are you going to get us out of here?"

"Y-yes, I'll get you out." Red Alert hissed. He couldn't believe he was doing this. But, no matter how much it hurt to help his creators, it hurt even worse to think that he would meet his brother screaming at him that he hated Red Alert for turning in their creators.

The femme smiled sharply. Red Alert attached the thin wire to both mechs, and pressed the button. The wire pulled them up, above the police heads until they landed on a rafter above. "This way."

They escaped out into the cool night air.

0o0o0o0o0

Prowl watched as the last of the bodies were carted out, optics cool and distant. He hadn't found the operators of Basstand, but it didn't concern him. Luckysteal had undoubtedly taken them down. The only problem was whether they would turn up dead or if they just disappeared altogether. He silently vowed to keep track of all mysterious disappearances for the next few months.

He glanced up as his mother creator came bounding towards him. Her face was concerned. "I heard that something was going on, and when you didn't come home I became worried."

"How did you find me here?" Prowl asked, surprised.

"I told them." Prowl glanced up at Red Alert as the red and white mech regarded him. Prowl was surprised at the difference in looks Red Alert was now giving him. Before Red Alert had been giving him looks of respect. Now he was looking at him as though he had declared himself an organic.

"How do you know them?"

"We knew each other before he was assigned to Luckysteals case." The femme chirruped sweetly. "Isn't that right?"

"Yes." Red Alert turned to the femme. "Well, Windsae. I suppose I better leave you here to make sure your creation is all right. I have to go check up on something."

Red Alert left, leaving behind a confused Prowl. "Mother, what… how long have you known him? Why did you never mention him to me before?"

"Oh, we've known him for all of his life. We just never mentioned him to you, because a little before Luckysteal appeared and he was assigned elsewhere, we were very busy. We didn't even know he was back until we met up close to here."

Prowl nodded, his CPU besieged by questions. The most prominent one was _why were you out here? Why was he out here?_

Windsae seemed to read his CPU. "We were about to go out to the police station to see if you were working over time again, and that's where we met up. He was surprised to see us, but we asked about you and explained it all to him. He… He agreed to lead us to you."

"I see."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alerts hand struck the doorframe, as he stood there. Dark clouds threatened acid rain, but he couldn't really care at this moment. Let the acid rain come and melt him. Maybe it could release the pain swirling both in his spark and in his CPU.

Brother. Prowl. Brother. Prowl. Brother. Prowl. The terms, no matter how long he repeated them did not fit together. Prowl was a distant, work-aholic… And so was he. Prowl was coolly calculating and distant. So was their father. Neither seemed to of picked up their mothers talents for talking however, unless they counted Red Alerts way of talking about conspiracy theories.

It didn't really count. Red Alert knew it. A heavy raindrop plopped down beside him. It was the first warning. Red Alert didn't move. _Come on rain, do your worst- _A hand grabbed him, yanking him into shelter. "Slag it, what are you doing? Don't ya know its about to rain?"

Red Alert flinched, a weapon leveling at the mech. The shadowy figure froze as the slight light slanted off it. "What the slag do you think your doing?"

"It's about to rain. I didn't think you wanted to stand out there and get melted." The mech replied carefully. Red Alert glowered at him, before subspacing the gun and slumping against the door as the pain began to pummel down.

The rain and weather seemed to wish to echo what he felt right now. The other mech in the room looked at him steadily. "What's the matter?"

"What are you, a psychiatrist?" Red Alert demanded sourly, slumping even further.

"Nah, I just firmly believe that if ya talk about something you'll feel better about it."

"It isn't something I can talk about."

"Then write it down and tear it up later." The mech shot back. "Do something! I don't need to open the daily media chip to find that yet another mech suicide in some dramatic way."

"I'm not going to suicide!"

"That what it looked like with you standing out there." The mech pointed out calmly.

Red Alert glowered at the mech, who grinned. "Ah, are ya sure ya don't want to talk about it? I usually listen to a lot of different mechs, especially for trauma."

The Lamborghini reflected sourly that he would be stuck in the room with a psychiatrist of some sort. "What would you do if faced with two impossible choices?"

"How impossible?" The mech asked, optics alight.

"One is suicidal, the other is mass murder impossible."

"And your third choice?"

"There isn't one." Red Alert sighed. "If I do one thing, I'll be killed or blacklisted. The other choice is to let many more die."

"There's always a third choice. Like my Ma said, 'Some mechs get so hypnotized by the hard choices, they can't see the easier choices.' Ya sure that there is only two choices?"

A reply wavered in his vocalizer, before Red Alert turned to stare out into the falling rain. Turn in his creators and have Prowl kill him, let his creators go loose and continue on their grisly business, or… Or maybe there was another choice. He could take care of his creators on his own. But how?

Red Alert slumped a little more against the door. Already the rain was beginning to let up. A comm. link echoed in the room. "Erm, boss? We got a situation over here-"

_Of course. If Luckysteal himself declared that anyone who even begins to deal with my creators ever again will be robbed blind- _A creepy smile spread across his faceplate. "I think you are right."

"Boss?"

Red Alert sighed. "I'll be right there."

He nodded to the mech, who looked surprised back. Before the mech could stop him, he took off into the rain. The mech yelled after Red Alert, "I'm Inferno! Nice to meet ya!"

0o0o0o0o0o0

"Well Prowl, Luckysteal hit a different city. And you got orders to be assigned to another case."

"Wait, what about Red Alert?"

"He's already left. He said to give this to you."

Prowls optics locked on the black cylinder. He took it slowly, before it became perfectly crystal clear in his CPU.

_Red Alert is Luckysteal, and he just got rid of the last bit of evidence. What the slag am I supposed to do now? I was just transferred into another case- Should I go after him?_

Prowl stared at the cylinder before subspacing it away. No, he'd hold onto it for now. Later, the next time he saw Red Alert, then he'd arrest him. If he went after Red Alert now no one would believe him.

* * *

A/n: Hah! Take that! I did manage to strangle the chapter into submission!


	8. And Then Some

Prowl turned to look at his commander as a missile whizzed overhead. Several mechs scrambled to get out of the way behind them. He could hear someone breathe next to him, "How long has this war been going on?"

"Only a few vorns." Someone else said tiredly. "Otherwise we'd probably be back home now."

Prowl decided that now was not the best time to tell them that the chances of seeing their homes ever again were below two percent. Instead he reflected on why he was in the war. He had been chasing down criminals with his usual ruthlessness, when an even bigger crime of an even larger magnitude had sprung up.

For awhile he had wondered if it had been Red Alert going back to being Luckysteal, but in the end it turned out it was only some other mech that had been rescued from Basstand and had gone bad in the light that most mechs let him get away with everything.

But, with the successful completion of the case, Prowl had found himself confronted by Autobot recruiters. Curious, he had joined. Within weeks he had been promoted rapidly until he was working with Optimus Prime.

But he still wasn't high enough of a level that he could be considered the right hand of Prime. No, he only needed to survive this battle. Something that wasn't going to happen. No matter how Prowl calculated it, there wasn't any way for him to get out of this.

They could give themselves up, the surest way to surviving, but Prowl knew exactly with whom he was working with. Mechs that did not believe that death existed after life. So thus they would charge fool-hardly into battle creating situations such as this one, and they all expected him to get them out of it.

Prowl frowned as he surveyed the enemy around them. The group could not go anywhere, but the the concentration of enemies was still the weakest backwards. "Commander, we have to make a break for the base."

"You mean retreat?"

"Yes."

"But-"

"None of us will survive unless we do. And now is the best option. I want one other mech to lay down a covering fire while the rest of you make a break for it."

No volunteers raised their hands to stay behind, so Prowl picked the second best shooter. "You."

The mech winced. Prowl gestured sharply to the others. They saluted, and made a wild break for the base, as Prowl and the other mech began firing. For a minute the Decepticons were thrown into massive confusion, before they began firing after the fleeing Autobots.

Prowl and his one other gunner began firing grimly. They also began making they're own way after the Autobots, making sure that any Decepticon that rose up to try to fire was cut down.

Prowl heard the gunner drop with a gurgle, and knew himself to be alone now. And his chance of survival was zero percent. He turned, determined to drop the mech who had killed his companion, and two pairs of optics locked.

All noise seemed to drain away from Prowls auditory receptors for a split second as his mouth moved silently on the name.

There was a crash and Prowl fell to the ground, miraculously keeping a hold of some small part of his CPU online. "Heh, so he's the one who's been causing such a stir."

"Not bad looking. Who gets the privilege of saying that they captured him?"

"I do." Came the calm, clear, authoritative voice that Prowl remembered all too clearly. "Now back off. I'll take him to base myself."

Ugly mutters ran through the small crowd of Decepticons, but none voiced them loud enough to be distinguishable. Prowl felt himself being picked up, and someone pointed out, "Don't you want to put him into some sort of bindings?"

For a single moment the mech froze, before shaking his head. "No, I'll do it once in base."

"What if he's faking unconsciousness?"

"Have you ever known me to make a mistake?"

"Ah-"

"I'll take that as a no. " The mech holding him stalked off. Prowl lay limply in his arms, wondering how the mech was carrying him. After all, they were about the same height, but Prowl had more weight on him.

"Prowl, you can turn on your optics now."

"Correction, if you are a Decepticon, I can not turn on my optics because that would mean that-"

"Yes, I know. It's been a long time Prowl."

Prowl nodded, onlining his optics to look up at Red Alert. Or what he could see of Red Alert. Red Alert had painted himself completely white instead of his original red-and-white paintjob, and a visor was obscuring his optics.

Prowl reached up, touching the side of the head gently to watch the visor slide up. Red Alert didn't even flinch. "I could've killed you by now."

"You won't. You want to get back to the Autobots, correct?"

Prowl nodded. Red Alerts head cocked to one side. "I'll get you back."

"Really? Would that not be aiding the enemy-"

"Perhaps yes, but you helped me once and you didn't chase after me. And I made a promise to your creators to protect you. That former vow holds precedence over the fake vow I took to the Decepticons."

Prowl was about reply, when Red Alert hissed, "Shh, we're coming in range of the sound perimeter I put up. Act unconscious for a few more minutes."

Prowl went limp and quiet in Red Alerts hands, before off lining his optics once more. He was in the hands of his allies in the base of his enemies. A little ironic when put that way, but it was true.

Conversations drifted by his auditory receptor as he listened to mechs joke and talk about common every-day experiences. And a few wacky experiences, like energon cubes mysteriously being replaced with paint.

Red Alert continued walking calmly through the base, ignoring all footsteps that padded past. Apparently the owners of the footsteps didn't like Red Alert either, so they went unchallenged.

The sound of a door sliding back and not prison bars nearly made Prowl say something, but he subsided. Let Red Alert do what he wanted- "All right, online your optics and go sit on a bunk." It was whispered in his auditory receptor.

The strong hands that had carried him all the way here gently eased him to the ground as Prowls optics flicked on. For a moment he sagged from sheer surprise.

From the top to the bottom it was covered in equipment. Equipment Prowl recognized only distantly as items for stealing and in general breaking into places. "It was hard to break the habit." Red Alert said guiltily. "And, well, once my top engineer went off to the Autobot side, I kept careful track of all of my equipment. I gathered it back from all of the cities I left it scattered in."

"Your engineer went to the Autobot side?"

"Apparently everyone did." The tone was remarkably smooth, but Prowl could see the quiet agony in Red Alerts optics.

"Why didn't you? I thought for sure you would."

"Um, I got word that my creators were joining the Decepticons, and I-"

Prowl looked levelly at Red Alert, wondering if any time had passed at all since they had last met each other. Red Alert hadn't seemed to change very much. " I didn't know your creators were still alive."

"They are, though they are lying low. I was just going after them." Red Alert offered weakly.

Prowls optic ridge rose. Red Alert looked away, before standing up to pace. "You see- I still have a tiny bit of unfinished business with them. Mainly in the fact that they are breaking our earlier promise."

"Promise?"

"It isn't something to speak about." Red Alert snapped back.

Prowl reluctantly gave up speaking to Red Alert about it, instead switching over to, "You are Luckysteal, are you not?"

"Yes… I am."

"What happened to those over Basstand?"

Red Alert flinched. "They… and I came to an agreement of sorts. Not the best, but it was the only one. What about your own?"

Prowl shrugged. "We fell out of contact after a few vorns. I had work, they had work, and between the three of us we slowly stopped communicating other then exactly once every stellar-cycle."

Red Alert nodded reluctant agreement. His optics traveled over the equipment again, and at last he stood, silently asking permission to look. Red Alert waved a hand in permission, and Prowl began to look around.

"What's the plan for getting out?"

"The usual. We'll go out through the backdoor."

Prowl stopped in front of a box that held a small indentation. It was supposed to have a black cylinder within it… "What would be the backdoor in this case?"

"I get strict orders to have you taken out and shot. You then make it to the Autobot base while I come back."

"No."

Red Alert turned to look at Prowl puzzled by the word. Prowl reached up to lift down a huge gun looking machine. "Ah, that was the earliest stun gun ever invented. Rather big isn't it? I kept it out of pure sentimental value. My first try as a thief resulted me in getting hit by one of those. Of course, I was just a sparkling at the time."

Something in Red Alert optics flinched from the thought of the happier days. Prowl placed the gun back, and said, "We need you."

"What?"

"The Autobots need a good security guard. You are a security guard."

"No. I'm not going over to the Autobots."

"At the rate the war is going, if we don't get a better security guard we'll loose a lot of mechs that don't need to die."

"You have your own security guards. You don't need me."

Prowl stopped his look over in front of a small box. Red Alert instantly rattled off, "It's a small device that will put a temporary drain on all energy in a eighty foot radius for ten minutes. After that it will self-destruct leaving behind no trace that it was ever there."

"We do need better security guards. I'm attempting to keep my optic on all of them, but I can't."

"But you don't need me especially."

Prowl paused in front of another machine he could recognize. "You're one of the few I can trust to do the job completely."

"Then get one of the other few you can trust."

"They are busy doing other jobs and don't have time to convert it over to being chief of security-"

Red Alert twitched. "Chief of Security?" He repeated hopefully.

"Yes."

"You couldn't possibly have me promoted up to that point the second I join up-"

"No, but if you work hard enough I promise you that I can get you through the lower levels rather fast."

"And why would you do that for a mech you haven't seen in vorns? I could come with you to be a spy."

Prowl found himself back in front of the stunner. "Because in the time I knew you, you never lied once. You never said that you knew exactly when you'd strike, you waited until certain mechs were inside of the base to strike. You never even said you weren't Luckysteal."

"You knew me for a little over a week."

"Yes, but I was with you nearly every single minute. I saw two sides, and they were the exact same."

Red Alert winced. "Was I really that bad?"

"Both of you were so close together it was impossible to differentiate the two 'personalities'. But only if you were truly looking and thinking about it."

Red Alert chewed his lip. Prowl decided to lower a little more bait. "The Decepticons are much better at attacking then we are. You'll have to go above and beyond even your usual amount to keep up with them."

A single twitch was the only response. Prowl only needed that single twitch. Red Alert was caught as surely as he had been when the mech had dropped the slightest information about his creators and Basstand.

"But- won't mechs make a background check of me?"

"Use one of your fake records. What name are you using here anyways?"

"Redline."

Prowl turned to look at him. Red Alert shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Prowl placed a hand on a shelf. "Can't you create an entirely new record?"

"I can. It's rather easy with the war. Some of the hardest hit cities no longer have records at all about who is in the city. I could easily claim that I'm from one of them, but-" Red Alert paused. "I-I believe that I'll go with my real name."

Prowl stopped dead. "Red Alert will be coming with me? Not Luckysteal, or Redline, not anyone else?"

"Just Red Alert."

"And all of this?"

"It'll be easy enough to transport it all. The only problem would be convincing your allies that I'm an Autobot."

"No-" Prowl corrected, "-our allies."

* * *

_A/n: Yes, people, I am continuing. There were a couple comments and question about that, so yes, I am. This is my answer, I am continuing. However, if you don't want to go any further, You can break off at the last chapter._


	9. Chapter 9

The small, sleek Autobot glared up at his commander, teeth grinding. "We need to mount a rescue mission for Prowl soon! He has a lot of the information we need-"

"Prowl, reporting for duty sir!" Came the cold, clear, crisp voice from right behind the mech.

The mech turned around, about to hurtle himself at Prowl, when he froze. A red and white Lamborghini stood next to the Datsun, his brilliant blue optics as cool as ice. "Optimus Prime sir, while I was out I took the liberty of finding a new security director to work with me. His name is Red Alert. We've worked extensively with each other before."

Optimus Prime stood, one hand extending. Red Alert hesitated for a moment, before reaching out to clasp it. Prowl looked steadily at Optimus Prime. "Ah, Prowl, I know you've been severely overworked, but are you sure he can hold up to the pressures?"

Prowl nodded. Red Alert helm tilted slightly to one side as he looked beyond Optimus Prime. Prowl glanced over at Red Alert, before glancing back at Prime. "Prime… his city was hard hit by Decepticons. None of his records exist."

"None?"

Prowl shook his head. The other mech finally jumped in, "Where did you get him Prowl? I didn't know there was an Autobot base anywhere nearby."

"He didn't come from nearby Jazz. We both broke out of the base together."

Prime, about to say something, abruptly changed his CPU. "So you know the exact location of the base?"

"Yes."

"Good, we need to mount an attack. We need the information stored there."

Red Alert shifted uncomfortably. Jazz glanced over at Prowl, and Prowl looked back steadily. "I thought you were still captured. How did ya get out?"

"We were to be shot and disposed of quietly. Red Alert distracted the guard for a few moments and I took them out."

Jazz stared at Prowl, visions dancing through his head at how close they had been to loosing him. Red Alert unexpectedly spoke for the first time, his voice slicing through the awkward conversations. "Optimus Prime sir, I request to know whether or not you wish to deny me entrance to the Autobot army."

Jazz flinched. That voice was familiar. It sounded a lot like Luckysteal, back when he was a thief in the guild.

"Why not go to the Autobot recruiters?" Prime asked helplessly.

"Because I wish to assign him to the Dome as soon as he's in the Autobot army."

Jazz mouthed a few words, optics growing wide. Red Alert glanced over at Prowl, "The Dome? You mean that ancient, rusting pile of junk that's on the battlefront?"

"I believe it has a great psychological effect if we can hold it. After all, that was where the Original Thirteen were said to reside in."

Red Alert made a slight motion, which Prowl nodded at. Red Alert scowled a little. "You were not joking when you told me that you'd assign me to difficult cases."

"You like difficult cases."

Red Alert shrugged slightly, but his optics was already calculating. "Give me at least a month. At most two months. By then I'll have it done."

Jazz murmured softly under his breath, "You certainly are being generous with your time."

Red Alerts optics slid towards Jazz, before glancing once more at Prime. Prime gestured at Prowl weakly. Prowl cleared his vocalizer. "If you can do it in a month, then I'll give you Head of Security. Our past five security mechs quit after being assigned to the case."

Red Alert nodded, saluted sharply, and turned on his heel to walk out. Prowl watched him go, before turning back towards Prime. Only to be grabbed by a strong set of hands and shaken. "Prowl, what did you think you were doing?"

"I was picking out a new security director."

"Not that! Getting yourself caught in the first place!"

"I already told you. I was getting a new security director."

Prime cleared his vocalizer. "At this point I have different worries. Prowl, about Red Alert-"

"Careful Prime. He can hear a pin drop at one point four miles."

Jazz mouthed the number, before shaking his head. Prime revised what he was going to say, before dropping it all. "Is he trustworthy?"

"That depends on what you consider trustworthy. I trust him with my life."

Jazz winced. "Why?"

Prowl paused, the reason was not something he could casually throw out into the open. It was not just that he was Luckysteal, but he had acted according to what Prowl knew to be the true Red Alert. "He's the exact same as before the war."

0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert leaned against the wall, optics peering above the head of his 'enemies'. Allies now. Some idle part of his CPU wondered what his creators were doing.

Time had not mellowed out the feeling of betrayal; it had only made it worse. But Red Alert always kept it at bay with work. The nights he spent in his room he was so tired he'd fall into a deep, dreamless recharge. Either that or wake up snarling at his creators for having a brother.

No, it wasn't fair of him to blame Prowl. In fact, Prowl was the best brother a mech could ask for. During the week of intensive training, it had been a privilege to know him, and train him. He had been smart, fast to understand and apply, and didn't let anything stand in his way.

_I wonder how he would react if he found out I was his brother. _Red Alert brushed the thought away. He had other things to concentrate on. Such as the little information he had on the Dome.

It was, as Prowl said, one of the places the Thirteen had built. Or so legend had it. Red Alert wasn't sure what to believe. All he knew was that the Dome has slowly rusted over the years, leaving behind a large, rusted corroded base that was still largely unexplored.

Which meant that he was going to be busy for the next few orns. Prowl entered the room, and made an instant beeline for him. Red Alert nodded at Prowl, optics still scanning the crowd. "Well?"

"They've agreed."

Red Alert nodded, staring off across the crowd. "Prowl- Thank you."

Prowl said nothing, and they both stood against the wall. "When do I leave?"

"Oh, in another three orns. That's when the next shuttle will be heading out."

Prowl gestured to the right. "I got us a private area to talk with each other. The short amount of time before we broke out of the base wasn't enough."

Red Alert winced as he followed Prowl. He had to keep the subject off of the painful subject of creators and siblings and brothers- "What about the silvery mech, umm, Jazz?"

"Jazz is currently second-in-command. We've been working together for the past few vorns."

Red Alert hesitated for a moment before mentioning, "Do you remember when Soundslip challenged me?"

Prowl nodded. Red Alert nodded, "He and Soundslip are the exact same mechs. You're lucky you didn't meet him before, obnoxious little glitch."

Prowls optic ridge rose. "I try to keep track of all the members. I believe my top mechanic came over to the Autobot side as Wheeljack. Most went over to the Decepticons, but all of the ones I put in charge of the guild became Autobots."

It was a measure of Red Alerts trust for them to take over while he was gone. No Decepticon material would be able to do so. He was much too paranoid to allow such a thing. "Anyways, I suggest you watch Jazz."

"Did you not like him?"

"Not that I didn't like him… he smiles too much, that's all." Red Alert sniffed. "He's perpetually happy and smiling. It unnerved me. And he was always a slippery one. If he hadn't challenged me in front of the entire guild I would've let him take over Iacon when I left. As it was I had to make do with Redline. Which brings me to another question. Why didn't you turn in everyone?"

"I wasn't assigned to their cases, and I wanted first to bring you down. With the war, I believe I'll ignore you being Luckysteal."

"Well, thank you. It would've been bad if I had to break all of them out of jail." Red Alert replied. Prowl nodded.

Both sat in the silence for a little longer. "Soundslip- I mean Jazz is head of the Special Ops."

"A good job for him. He should be even better then me by now." Red Alert replied promptly.

"But… if he is so high up, why does he took such a special interest in me?" Prowl demanded.

"Special interest?"

"Yes, I swear he tries to protect me." Prowl frowned at the blank floor before him.

Red Alert coughed, wondering how the conversation had changed into this. He had never pictured himself telling his brother someone liked him. Although, it wasn't like he could give any advice. His love life was bare.

"The shuttle leaving for the Dome will be departing soon. All passengers please report."

Red Alert thankfully took the excuse.

* * *

_A/n: Yes, Jazz and Soundslip is one of the sam_e.


	10. Chapter 10

Red Alert surveyed the crumpled heap in growing dismay. He was supposed to create a secure system of security for this place? He had heard tales, not all of them good. Most of them bad.

Which still left the question of, _how am I supposed to do this?_

His optics narrowed, and quickly he organized his thoughts. First step, get the floor plans. Second step would to check over security in known places. Third step would be to compare floor plans with the real deal, which would include measuring-

One month. He had one month, but he didn't dare rush the job. One month just might not be enough. Unless he could somehow drag in some help.

With a thoughtful look he began to proceed into base, optics and sensors still alert for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing seemed to be wrong, even on one of the least secure bases on planet. He stopped at one point in near amusement.

Apparently the base had changed hands many times. The mechs, bored, had written a comment on the wall. The other faction had replied. Then the first faction said something, and the other faction once again replied. They actually had a lengthy conversation.

A conversation all about idiot commanders and their stupid orders began to take up an entire section on the wall. Red Alert read over it, before shaking his head. It made little to no sense to him. "Ah, found the treaty did ya?" Came a soft, deeply accent voice from behind him.

Red Alert turned to look at the mech, his probing optics taking in the fire trucks large frame. "Treaty?"

"Yeah, our past commander wasn't the smartest of mechs. He didn't do a lot of planning, and so for about a vorn the base changed sides nearly every cycle. Well, most of us soldiers grew rather tired about it, so when we left behind the comment, we were just joking."

"Ah?"

"Yep, but the 'Cons replied, leaving behind a message as well, and everything was easy after that. We negotiated that whoever was in the base on the Fifteenth would get to hold the base for a month before the other side would even think about attacking. Kinda a mutiny, except we're both refusing to attack only for a month. So far the 'Cons have kept their side of the agreement. We're all a little tired though, which is probably the only reason they haven't attacked us."

Red Alert muttered something under his breath before nodding. "Thank you for the information."

The fire truck nodded, before extending his hand. "By the way, I'm Inferno." The name was familiar from somewhere…

"Red Alert." Red Alert shook Inferno hand, and turned to survey the long corridors. He had to measure this? Maybe he would cheat and use one of his devices that used a special impulse to figure out how big each room and corridor was.

Inferno noticed his look and completely misinterpreted it. "Do ya need help finding someplace? We got a crude map posted up somewhere around here with basic directions."

"Yes, I need to find the commander."

"Ah-" Inferno paused, suddenly stricken. "Not new orders to attack I hope. Most mechs are still in recharge."

"No, not new orders to attack. You don't have to worry about that." Red Alert stared narrowed optic at Inferno. "If everyone is resting, why aren't you?"

"Because I am currently holding down security. I'm the most awake warrior we've currently got."

Red Alert nodded, and Inferno gestured grandly. "Over this way. The commander took over a room on the second floor."

As they walked, Inferno began to give a full rundown of the history of the Dome, and its various quirks. "Ya know, every day we find something new to this place. It's rather disconcerting. Ya think you're going down the right pathway, but then-"

Inferno shrugged. "Ya get turned around without ever realizing it."

Both stopped in front of a doorway, and Inferno tapped on the door. "Sir? We got someone who wants to see ya."

"If its about the energon supply, tell them to go away. I can't do anything about it."

"I am Red Alert. I was assigned by Optimus Prime to become your security director."

Inferno jaw dropped beside him. Red Alert ignored this as he continued, "I need to go through the proper procedures of registering since I'm a civilian-"

Inferno jaw dropped a little more. The door slid open to a tired looking Autobot. His blue optics was slightly grey from fatigue and the smell of stale energon wafted out to him. "Oh, good. You're finally here. We kept on getting promises from the higher-ups that we'd get someone. No one ever showed up however. All of the security systems are slagged. We have no functioning cameras, nothing. We don't even have an actual floor plan."

Red Alert considered all of this new information with growing dismay. There was no way he could complete his job without resorting to drastic measures. "I see. Very well then, I'll get started. First, I must create floor plans."

Inferno glanced over at him, optics wide. Red Alert muttered as he turned, stalking off. "Ah? Wait, how are ya going to do that?"

"Various ways."

Inferno offered hesitantly, "I'll be willing to help out if ya wish."

Refusals almost fell out of Red Alerts vocalizer, when his logic chip cut through his paranoia. _You won't be able to do much if you do it by yourself. _

_-But, can he be trusted?-_

Red Alert shook his head. Now was not the time to be arguing with the voices within his CPU. He had no choice. He couldn't do all of this alone, not in a month. "Yes, I could use a little help. Could you take this datapad, and when I give you the information, enter it in?"

Inferno nodded, taking the datapad from Red Alert. "Where do ya want me to enter it?"

"You see the empty space in the middle? Enter it there, and the plan should start automatically begin reconstructing itself."

Inferno optics shuttered once. Red Alert explained the nuances of the program as they walked back to the front door, wondering why he even bothered. He had no idea whether Inferno actually understood it, and he knew this was probably a bad idea in the first place.

They stopped in front of the door, and Red Alert sighed as he subspaced the small, flat datapad like object. Inferno glanced at it. Red Alert flipped it so the back was facing the empty hallway, and touched the screen. For a moment the screen lay dark, but then Red Alert mumbled a soft curse. He had completely forgotten that it was supposed to be a secret device, so the numbers would only show up by using his visor.

With a few taps the screen allowed him to see it without the visor. Quickly he rattled off the numbers, Inferno frantically scribbling it in. They moved through the bottom floor first, moving at a relentless pace. Red Alert, immersed in his work, forgot about energon, as Inferno would wistfully glance at his internal chronometer from time to time.

At last Inferno couldn't stand it any longer. "Ah, Red Alert, can I go get some energon?"

Red Alert waved a hand, absent-mindedly saying, "Yes."

Inferno set down the datapad next to Red Alert as he strolled away, back the way they had come from. Red Alert glared at the datapad, suddenly reminded of all his grievances. He had signed up to be security, not architectural. If he had wanted to be an architect, he would've studied that in school. The only other times he had used it was for mapping out the interior lay of houses and places he was going to rob.

He sighed, considering progress, if it could be considered that. It felt more like being plopped down onto what you thought was the middle of the mountain, only to find out that you've fallen into some sort of valley deep below the mountain.

He did at least have the entire first floor mapped out, and half of the second floor. There were at least two more levels left. After that he still had to fix the bugs. Red Alert picked up the pad, keying it to bring up the completed first floor.

Just as he thought, there was a lot of space missing. Entire room sized chunks were missing from the data taken, which meant there were secret passages. Problem number one would be finding those secret passages. They also probably had some sort of booby-trap or something along those lines.

He scowled at the plans, and flipped over to the second floor. To his surprise, according to what he had found so far, there should be a secret passage right next to him.

Red Alert stood, scanning the nearby wall for the usual signs of a hidden latch. It took two intense searches, but at last he found a small indentation. Quietly he pressed it. The wall gave way with a rusted squeal, setting his teeth on edge. He was about to step in, when a startled voice said from somewhere behind him, "I don't remember that."

Red Alert turned to see Inferno standing in the doorway, two cubes of energon in hand. Inferno held up the second cube, "I thought you might want some energon."

Red Alert took it, staring at it worriedly. What if it was poisoned? What if- His stomach rumbled unhelpfully and the black passage beckoned gently. With a miserable mumble from his paranoia, Red Alert drank the cube in three gulps. Inferno, sipping his much more cautiously, winced. "Ah?"

"Secret passage. Going to explore it. Stay here."

"No, I'm coming with you."

Red Alert looked askance at Inferno. "Inferno, at your size and weight, if there are any booby traps you'll set them off perfectly."

"Well, ya aren't the lightest mech alive either." Inferno defended. "Besides, its best to have backup at all times."

Red Alert considered for a split moment of knocking the other mech unconscious before discarding the thought. It would be a pain having to explain. It was also going to be a pain if Inferno came with him and saw Red Alert put Luckysteal knowledge and expertise to good use.

"Inferno, please stay behind-"

The sound of marching filled the hallway. Red Alert, in the most amazing burst of speed Inferno had seen yet, gathered up the energon cubes, datapads, and everything that said they were there and tossed it into the secret passage before shoving Inferno in.

Inferno stumbled for a moment, and Red Alert sped through behind him, swinging the secret door shut. Inferno turned on his vocalizer, about to make a noise when Red Alert hissed softly, "Shh."

Complete silence fell as the footsteps trod past, Red Alert pressed against the door. Inferno sighed inwardly. Why was Red Alert so jumpy? They were within an Autobot base.

Red Alert waited for a full ten seconds after the footsteps faded past them before cautiously swinging open the door. Inferno flinched as the light hit his unprotected optics unmercifully. Red Alert didn't seem to notice as he stepped out, glancing around.

The fire truck behind him was presented with the beautiful view of Red Alerts aft. A red blush began to creep around Inferno faceplate as he stared at the welcome view, before he turned away. _He was not falling in love, he was not falling in love, he was not falling in love-_

Red Alert turned, beckoning. "It's safe."

Inferno stepped out before pointing out dryly, "They were Autobots Red, we coulda stayed out here."

Red Alert seemed about to reply, before he unexpectedly shook his head. "No, we had no way of knowing. If they were Decepticons it would've been disastrous for them to find this information. Even if it isn't complete."

"But they wouldn't come now. Last time we fought just a cycle ago both sides were so tired they were falling asleep on their feet."

"That doesn't mean they wouldn't hold an extra force in check just in case something like this happens." Red Alert bit back.

Inferno quivered on the edge of saying something, but at last gave it up. Red Alert was right. The 'Cons probably would. A yawn cracked his jaw before he could stop it. Red Alert paused, looking at Inferno steadily. "Go get some recharge Inferno. It's probably about time someone was relieving you, isn't it?"

"But- don't you still need help? And what about the passage?" Inferno persisted, despite the gear deep weariness. Recharge sounded excruciatingly good about now. Excruciatingly being a very good word for it. Inferno knew if he allowed Red Alert to work by himself and some other mech happened to pick him up he would never forgive himself.

_I am not in love with him! I am simply making sure he isn't exploited. _His CPU insisted firmly.

Red Alert shrugged. "I can work without you."

Inferno flinched, hurt pooling by the unexpected slam. "You did make my job easier though." Red Alert admitted, covering part of the unseen hurt.

Deciding that he had probably made a nuisance of himself, Inferno decided that he would remove himself from a mech that obviously didn't like him. As he nodded and walked away, feet dragging, Red Alert cleared his vocalizer. "Thank you for the help rendered today Inferno. I… appreciated it."

The last sentence seemed just the tiniest bit forced, but Inferno didn't notice. Red Alert didn't hate him. Good. Then he could come back later, to help and watch just a little bit more. "You're welcome Red."

Inferno didn't turn to see the look that passed across Red Alerts face. But, as Red Alert watched the fire truck go, he considered the newest puzzle. Inferno seemed genuine in his return of thanks, something that Red Alert did not often see.

_Maybe he just needs a little bit more time to see how I truly am before he's chased away. _With that doubtful, prodding thought in mind, Red Alert turned back to the secret passage.

_First and foremost- _The visor slid into place, its darkness piercing vision lighting up the pathway. He could see their footprints in the dust, dust that hadn't been disturbed for centuries. With an inward grimace at having disturbed the dust, he scooped up the instruments, and turned to face the darkness.

The secret door closed shut behind him, unnoticed. Luckysteal was the one in charge now. He had the most experience. Red Alert the security director was right beside him, advising worriedly.

He stepped forward, using the instrument from before to find the length of the passageway. It was completely straight; there was nowhere to turn off too. With light, careful footsteps, Luckysteal began exploring.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Inferno yawned as he dragged himself out to the cafeteria, rubbing his optics tiredly. The half-cycle rest did not allow him enough rest, but it was about his turn for patrols. Other mechs moved through the hallways, chattering excitedly. This was the first day they had in a long time without being woken up by gunfire.

Inferno entered into the bustling cafeteria, and began elbowing his way through the crowd good-naturedly. Most mechs were still standing around talking.

He picked up several cubes, and turned to work his way out of the crowded cafeteria. Here and there mechs waved him over, but he shook his head. He had patrol in just another breem, just enough time to drink these cubes dry.

The hallways were mercifully clearing up, as different mechs left to do different things. Inferno drank as he walked, heading outside for patrol. Only to stop in curiosity. Red Alert stood in front of him, holding a destroyed camera in hand, some tool in the other. He was leaning against a wall, and spread in front of him was a variety of different wires. Inferno could see a thin layer of dust lying over him, signifying that he had been busy lately.

"Red, did ya go exploring the passages?"

"Mmm, stopped after the first one. I needed to finish the rest of the floor plans. Once I get these cameras fixed and at least a skeleton of security measures are in place I'll go back in. They all need cleaned anyways." Red Alert stated, not bothering to look up from his work.

"Alright, I'm off on patrol."

"Be careful, the Decepticons could jump you."

Inferno sighed, and walked on. Red Alert snapped the camera back together, optics narrow. He wired the camera back up, making a mental note to stick someone in the control room to tell him whether or not the cameras were working.

With a scowl, he moved onto the next camera. Several mechs passed by him, eyeing him oddly. He ignored them outwardly, inwardly tracking them and their movements carefully. Even if their movements were completely unthreatening, one never knew.

Onward he moved, not noticing the passing of time until he saw Inferno wandering the hallways. Inferno walked up to him, smiling brightly. "Hello, need anymore help?"

"Yes, could you go to the control room and check to see if the cameras are showing up?"

"Uhm, yeah." Inferno replied, it wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he came to offer his help, but he was willing to take what he could get. "Where is it?"

"Two doors down to the right from the mess hall."

Inferno turned, and began walking. Red Alert looked up after him, frowning slightly. _Inferno is a slightly odd one. _


	11. Chapter 11

Inferno wandered around the security room, noticing how bare and dark it was. _It's said that the room mechs spend the most amount of time in is what reflects their personality. _Inferno brushed aside the thought. His own room was clean… sort of. He had been meaning to take back those empty cubes for recycling, and he would. Sometime.

The door slid open as Red Alert stepped into the room. Inferno smiled, his vocalizer shooting off the first question that it had just been dwelling on. "Red, what's your room like?"

Red Alert froze. His room was covered from top to bottom with all of his gear. The subspace had to be cleared out after all; there was a limit to how much he could hold. "Umm, ah-"

Inferno furiously began backpedaling, his CPU finally catching up with his vocalizer. His CPU cursed frantically as he tried to smooth over the question. Talking to Red Alert was like walking over a field of mines. One never knew what might set him off. "Ah, never mind. Just wondering if you had any family-"

The smaller mech stiffened further. _Well, that strikes out two new conversation topics. _Outwardly Inferno kept on babbling, his CPU unable to find the off switch to his vocalizer. "I was just wondering because my own father died rather early. I didn't remember him, but Ma did her best to raise me and my older sibling. I was the youngest. I never had another sibling… Ma didn't ever get rebounded, and she followed Da as soon as I was old enough to fend for myself…"

Silence collapsed down on Inferno, his CPU traveling back to darker times. Red Alert saw his face darken and go blank. _What do I do? I don't want to say that my creators were criminals, nor do I want him to look so sad. It's like the light went out of the world… _"My… My own creators and I fell out. I left them. They had another creation, and never told me. I only found out about it until long after the fact."

"Ya have a brother, or sister?"

"Brother."

"Do ya talk often?" Inferno inquired anxiously. "The only way to get to know someone is to talk."

"I-I have talked to him." Red Alert squirmed inwardly, well able to guess what Inferno would say to the next sentence. But he couldn't leave it out. "He doesn't know I'm his brother however."

"What." It wasn't a question. Not even close. The security mech winced at the flat, deadly tone.

"He doesn't know I'm his brother. It would just cause him unnecessary pain."

"Unnecessary pain?" Inferno repeated, optics beginning to blaze. "That- That has to be the worst excuse used in the history of Cybertron Red! Why haven't ya told him?"

"Various complications, including why I and our creators never talked about each other. At least, I don't think they ever talked about me."

The idea began to gnaw on his CPU. What if his creators had mentioned that Prowl had a brother? What would they use to describe him? His creators were still alive. If Prowl even got a whiff of the fact that he had a brother, Red Alert could count on him to find out who it is.

And his creators would tell Prowl, just to watch Red Alert squirm. Or at least give Prowl just enough hints to guess. Not that Red Alert could accuse his creators of anything. The operation was over with. Completely and totally. He knew that. He had been keeping a careful optic on the proceedings, and found them to be satisfactory.

His creators had given up on the business. But it did nothing to ease the pain in his spark. Maybe he had done what the stranger had said he shouldn't do, choosing the bigger of the two evils, but all seemed well-

Stranger. The stranger had introduced himself as Inferno-

"Wait a moment, so it was you at Iacon!" The words burst from his vocalizer before he could stop it.

An utterly blank and confused look reminded him that Inferno had been ranting about brothers and family ties only a moment before. "Inferno, you were at Iacon for awhile, correct?"

"Only once, before the war. It… was an unusual experience."

"Yes, I believe you yanked a suicidal mech out of the acid rain." Red Alert said dryly. Infernos optics shuttered as he stared at Red Alert for a moment, attempting to remember the experience. "I believe I asked you about choosing between two evils?"

"Ah-Ah! Now I remember! I was going to the station when it started to rain and there was… you were that mech Red?"

"Yes… I was Inferno." Red Alert murmured. "I never did tell you my name."

"What were you doing in Iacon?"

"I was investigating Luckysteal."

Inferno went completely stiff. "Luckysteal? As in the thief Luckysteal who hit every single famous mechs house?"

"Yes…"

"Did ya ever actually get ta see him?"

"Nooooo-" Why oh why was he lying to Inferno? This wasn't right…

"Slagit!" Inferno muttered. "My older sister was always a big fan of him. Are ya sure ya never met him?"

"Not face to face when he was stealing something, no." Red Alert supplied, hoping desperately that it was going to work on keeping Inferno from inquiring too closely about his past. Red Alert only had a certain amount of lies, and all of them suddenly became uncomfortable when he was faced with the idea of telling them to Inferno.

As if in answer to his prayers, Primus sent them both a distraction. That distraction came to be Prowl storming into the room. "Red Alert, I need you."

Red Alert looked up, surprised. Prowl was completely alone, and he was supposed to be in Iacon, not in the Dome. There had to be a line of hostiles between here and Iacon as well- "Inferno could you please leave?"

"S-Sure Red." Inferno said softly, optics switching from Prowl to Red Alert. "If ya need me, I'll be outside the door."

The second the door slid shut behind Inferno, Red Alerts arms crossed. "Well Prowl?"

"Jazz was captured in one of his missions. A spy revealed his location. Now, they're holding him in the underground somewhere. I can't agree to their demands, nor can I mount a rescue mission myself. I'm not sure who turned Jazz in."

Red Alert sighed. "I can probably find out where he is… Just what is he to you anyways?"

"He's a valuable ally-"

_Oh no you don't. My dear brother, he's a little more then that, isn't he? _"Of course. What is he personally however?"

Prowl fell silent. "Prowl, there is going to be one condition to this. When I rescue Jazz, I want you to be able to look me in the optic and tell me what he is to you."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Jazz glowered at his bonds, mentally reviewing and cursing the situation alternately. His backup, the one he had only recently gotten, had betrayed him on the first mission. Usually that didn't matter.

This time, it did matter. They had been trying to retrieve information that would help them decide where to move the next large batch of troops. Jazz had gotten his hands on the information, but he was now caught.

As caught as anyone could be. Someone had been busy and had created some sort of sedative that would allow the body to be unmovable, but the CPU to work perfectly. As well as all of the other senses.

_I'm going to scrub myself six cycles to a vorn to get this smell off of me, aren't I? _Jazz thought as the stench of rotting energon hit his nose.

Footsteps padded past him, no one would dare do anything to Jazz. There was a huge mech that looked like he could handle Sunstreaker without any trouble, and he glowered at any who got anywhere near.

Jazz could hear whispers circulating around the room. No doubt deciding on how much longer they could wait before killing him. The silvery mech had to wonder if he could get his vocalizer to work enough to convince his guard that he'd like to be shifted a little bit so that leaning in the corner wouldn't be so painful.

BAM! The gunshot was precise, as well as the power shutting off without warning. Jazz would've grinned in he could. _At last, the rescue mission- _"Soundslip, I see you got into some major trouble. You always have to get in the thick of things, don't you?"

_Luckysteal. _Just his luck. He had gotten into the middle of one of Luckysteal raids. Luckysteal would sell him for spare parts the second he had a chance. He hated having a fellow thief pop up in his raids. The arms bustled him down the hallway as confusion reigned behind him, "I ought to sell you for spare parts, but someone else already claimed that privilege."

Confusion echoed in Jazzs CPU, but none of it could escape. He found himself being placed in a wash rack, and soon the smell was being washed off of him. That was all very nice and well, but he'd really like the antidote to be administered to him sometime soon. He knew that Luckysteal knew that he knew that Luckysteal had the antidote.

Of course, there was always the problem of whether or not he knew that the sedative had been administered. Jazz gloomily contemplated being tossed around like a piece of slag for the next few orns until he regained his body. Heat pounded into him as Luckysteal sent him through a dryer, and then he was once again in front of the mech.

Luckysteal had a length of a large ribbon in his hand. Jazz had to wonder where he had gotten the bendable, flexible metal. They were expensive. "He's going to kill me when he sees you, but at least I'll be able to record his expression."

_What expression- NO! You are NOT tying that ribbon on me- I'm going to kill you Luckysteal. _

Luckysteal stepped back, head cocked to one side as he regarded the mech. The large ribbon fixed on top of Jazzs head accented the silver paint beautifully. Prowl was going to kill him, but that was beside the point.

The point of this was the fact that Red Alert was about to do his brother a favor. A very big favor.

0o0o0o0o0

Jazz contemplated that the day couldn't get very much worse. First there had been the problem of being captured, and then he had been rescued. Kinda. But there was the problem of the large bow on his head. Luckysteal had even had him shinned and polished, all while Jazz couldn't move. And then he actually had the audacity to blindfold him.

Luckysteal was dead the second he could move. He would kill the slagger the moment he had his hands free. Whatever was going on, he didn't like it. He wanted to be in charge of his body-

The darkness that had originally been a blindfold pulled away, and Jazz found himself staring directly into Prowls face. If he could, he would be petrified stiff. This was the closest he had gotten to Prowl in the longest time. And Prowl was now only mere _inches _away.

Luckysteals feet padded out pointedly. Jazz was left wondering whether he would kill Luckysteal or thank him later. Now was the point where he could watch Prowl all he wanted without fear of anything stopping him, except for the fact that the sedative should begin wearing off in another three orns.

Should he, or should he not move when the sedative wore off? On one hand he could stare at Prowl all he wanted. On the other hand, Prowl would kill him.

Prowl shifted slightly, optics onlining to stare directly into his visor. Jazz suddenly became intensely grateful for the sedatives. There was no way he would ever forget Prowls faceplate. Now, he even had an excuse for the reason why he was in the room.

"Jazz?"

For a moment there was the fear that he would crash from the illogic of the situation, but it was completely dispelled as Prowl sat up. Jazz, unable to move, was presented with a very nice shot where Prowl pleasure unit would be stored. Once again the sedative prevented the heating on the insides, though his CPU would fry any time now…

Prowl slipped off the berth to survey him. Jazz CPU gibbered in happiness as Prowls careful, strong, _handsome _hands ran over his body, searching for anything broken or damaged.

Finding nothing, he began to withdraw his hands. Jazz groaned in disappointment. His vocalizer let loose with a sharp static noise. Both froze, before Prowl glanced at the bow again. He ripped off the note attached, the note he hadn't noticed before.

_Prowl, _

_I got your comrade for you, just like you asked. Please be careful with him. He's sedated right now so that way he can't move or talk but he's very aware of everything you do. _

"Oh slag." Prowl whispered as he realized that his checking over of Jazz had drifted to very, very inappropriate parts. Red Alert was going to pay for this.

* * *

A/n: For all you Prowl and Jazz lovers ^^


	12. Chapter 12

Inferno heard Red Alert walk in long before Red Alert actually spoke. He hadn't found it within himself to turn around and ask why the _second in command_ of all mechs had wanted to see him.

Moreover, he wasn't going to ask why that would take three cycles away from the base. No, he wasn't going to ask. No matter what. "Red, what have ya been doing lately?"

Red Alert flinched guiltily. He had been dreading this conversation, but had guessed it was going to come. "I was out doing a favor."

"That was Prowl, right Red? Second-in-command?"

"Yes…" Red Alert wondered if he should tell Inferno about him being his brother before scratching it. As much as he loved – no, _liked_, slag it all! – Inferno, he also tried to keep in CPU the fact that Inferno would blurt out the fact to Prowl.

Of course, none of that was going to matter if Inferno tried to strangle the information out of him. The fire truck loomed big when he was angry. Even bigger when he was angry with Red Alert, who was nearly a head smaller, much lighter, and less heavily armed.

"I owed him, and he asked me to grab his friend for him."

"Friend?"

Relief washed over Red Alert at the temporary diversion. "Yes, he is rather attached to the third-in-command, or otherwise known as the special ops. I simply helped out."

"With what?"

"I'm sorry Inferno, I can't tell you. It's rather… embarrassing."

Embarrassing, yes it was. Half of the thieves' guild had nearly fallen out of their seats laughing when Red Alert had demanded the whereabouts of Soundslip. Apparently a bet had been going on about what Luckysteal would say when he finally dragged himself out of the war.

Everyone had agreed that he would be back to save someone's aft; they had been taking bets on whom he'd have to save. Soundslip had been on the top of the list, for apparently he'd been back bragging he'd be able to surpass Luckysteal.

Red Alert personally had to agree that Soundslip would and had surpassed Luckysteal. The question was, would he stop trusting enough to keep getting tangled up in false reports. If he could just stop he'd be beyond Luckysteal.

"Well, alright then." Inferno said cautiously, his optics prodding into Red Alerts. "Red, do ya think ya want to rest? Ah can tell ya haven't gotten any sleep lately."

Red Alert hesitated, before at last nodding. He wanted sleep, and he could trust Inferno to watch for him. "Alright Inferno… Just make sure you don't get kidnapped, alright?"

Inferno nodded, his optics tracking the sleek form of the Lamborghini as he left. He was about to turn back to the consol in front of him when Red Alert stopped dead, and ducked. The crackling sizzle of a gun blasted through the door. Red Alert flew forward out of Infernos optic range, the gun appearing in his hand-

Inferno hit the panic button. Sirens went off as he prepared to follow Red Alert. The Lamborghini came back hurtling through the door as he shoved Inferno to one side to type furiously at the console. "Inferno, hold them off!"

Inferno growled as he stood by the door, optics sweeping up and down the empty hallway. _Aww, c'mon you stupid 'Cons, come in here already, come on, come on, come on-_

A Decepticon head poked down the corner. Inferno blew it off, grinning in delight. _Yes, a fight! After a whole month! A fight!_

The computer bleeped once, and Red Alert gestured sharply. "Inferno, there are fires raging everywhere, but most of the fight is located in the southwest sector."

Inferno grinned as he left at a dead run for the fires. Red Alert switched over to the inter-comm link, snapping, "Team Alpha, you have company in corridors five, eight and twenty. Get in there and sweep them out."

"Right-o!" The cheery reply came back over. "Where's the commander?"

"The commander is over in corridor eight. Alpha, you turned onto the wrong corridor!"

"Sorry." The sheepish reply did nothing to help Red Alerts aching, tired CPU. "There they are-"

"NO!" Red Alert shrieked, "Those are our allies! You hit up with Team Charlie! Team Charlie, how did you get lost?"

"We took a right-"

Red Alert cursed silently, and then switched over to the open comm. link. He should've done this weeks ago, but due to other concerns, he hadn't had the most amount of time. "I'm transmitting the map of the base. Be open to receive."

Moments later Team Charlie had changed corridors, swarming towards the Southwest. Red Alert flickered between cameras desperately. He had only five screens available to him. If he had each camera on a two second rotation, with the five screens he should be able to monitor the screens mildly well. "Inferno, please head over to medbay. They seem to have a small fire going on-"

Inferno was off like a shot, not waiting for the rest of the sentence. Red Alert nodded inwardly in approval, returning to the rest of the battle.

0o0o0o0o0

Prowl slid the datapad onto Primes desk, face set in stone. Prime glanced up, and then back down at the datapad, before picking it up. Prowl stood, waiting, both door wings sticking straight out.

"Base Dome successfully repelled an attack, list of casualties, and list of Decepticon prisoners." Prime remarked out loud. "Is something wrong Prowl?"

Prowl shook his head. "No sir, all I request is that Red Alert be recalled back."

Something had defiantly happened. Prime had not gotten the information on how Jazz had been returned, but he had heard rumors that the return was certainly spectacular. In the fact that he had come sauntering out of the tacticians room looking mightily pleased with himself.

"Oh? Any definitive reason why?"

"He obviously has all of the qualifications needed, and you said that you are gathering the best." Prowl pointed out. "And… I would also like to confirm some rumors I've heard about him."

"Rumors? What sort of rumors?" Prime demanded, optics narrowing. He didn't want a criminal of any sort under his personal command.

Prowl hesitated, a bad sign. "Prowl-"

"I've recently gotten word that we might be related." Prowl said frostily. "I cannot ask my creators about it, they would not tell me. Apparently my brother became estranged for personal reasons and I would like to request what they are. And the only chance is through Red Alert."

"Prowl, you know as I that I cannot allow that." Prime pointed out. "Family feuds are not something to bring up during a war."

"Of course Prime. I simply plan on wearing him down until he answers." Prowl replied calmly. "Either you transfer him, or I transfer now."

Prime leaned back. "I can counteract any transfers."

Prowl nodded. "If you counteract, I'll be forced to do it in a rather embarrassing area for Red Alert. I'd rather not."

"How did you get this information anyways?"

"I was combing through old pictures in an attempt to piece together the file you wanted on Soundblast, and got sidetracked by Luckysteal. Eventually I found pictures of a young Red Alert with the same mechs as my creators. I don't think it's that great of a coincidence. " And Prowl was furious with Red Alert, how dare Red Alert not even so much as _hint _at the possibility.

That last comment cemented it in Primes CPU. He wanted no family feuds. None. "No Prowl, you are to stay here."

Prowl nodded reluctantly. _Red Alert is going to hate me when I do this._

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert groaned wearily as his pager began to beep ominously, warning him that he had an urgent message from the thieves guild. "Yes, what is it?"

"Boss, is it true?"

"Is what true?" Red Alert asked a little more warily.

"That you're related to that one mech, what's his name… he called himself Redline, and then you switched it to Prowl?"

_Oh Primus. Oh Primus. He found out. He truly found out. Now what am I supposed to do?_ Red Alert crazily considered his options, which weren't many. Lie a little, or lie a lot. Lie, a lot.

"No, who the slag told you such a lie?"

"Erm, Soundslip was spreading it around-"

_I am going hand him over to the Decepticons._

0o0o0o0o0

Jazz shifted uneasily as Prowl sat calmly down next to him. When Prowl had admitted to knowing that Jazz was Soundslip, it had settled in Jazz CPU that he was probably going to be asked a favor. The rumor had provided an interesting stir, one that Jazz took great pride in as revenge for the humiliation, but no one had counted on the fact that Luckysteal would get wind of it. And the idea that he'd _order_ them that they were to stay right where they were…

Prowl leaned back, his optics thoughtfully dark. Jazz glanced at his internal chronometer, before the door slid open. "Soundslip, Prowl-"

"Luckysteal, we must talk." Prowl cut Luckysteal off brutally. "And not as thieves."

Luckysteal sighed, collapsing onto the seat across the table. Jazz began to stand, hoping to escape. "Jazz, sit down. Prowl, you're the second-in-command of the Autobots. Surely you could contact our creators and ask."

Jazz jaw dropped as Prowl nodded. "I did ask. They wouldn't say why."

Luckysteal regarded his hands for a moment as Jazz slowly sank back into his seat. Prowl waited patiently, his door wings not even twitching. "Alright Prowl, I'll admit, we are brothers. I broke off from our creators due to some extraneous circumstances. They- they weren't pretty."

"What?" Prowl demanded, optics attempting to pierce the visor that hid his optics. "Mother and Father-"

"That is between us Prowl. Not between you and I, but them and me." Red Alert snapped back.

Prowl stared at the table, before murmuring, "They were the leaders of Basstand, weren't they?"

Jazz spark froze as Luckysteal stiffened. Basstand was well known to him as well, and he didn't think that Prowl would- "Yes, they were."

"Why didn't you turn them in?" Prowl demanded.

Luckysteals' burning optics rose up to Prowl. "Because of you. I didn't want to affect your life. Not a single part of it. I had to suffer through all of those sideways looks- and that's why I never, ever once told you."

Prowl looked back icily, "Do you not think I hadn't figured it out for myself? When the three of you came to me… after the raid, it was impossible not to construct the information."

"Then why didn't _you_ turn them in?" Luckysteal demanded.

"Because I _thought_ you were going to stick around at the police station and help me gather the evidence to turn them in. Without you, and no other witnesses, it all fell apart. " Prowl snapped back. "And I couldn't go chasing after you."

Jazz glanced back and forth, squirming inwardly. He hadn't expected, and never wanted to get caught up in a family feud. And this one was worse then he could ever expect. Primus, Prowls creators the leaders of Basstand? Luckysteal? The mech who threatened to disembowel anyone who even hinted at helping Basstand? It was all very much a bad dream.

And there was still the problem of who Luckysteal actually was. It was obvious Prowl knew Luckysteal real identity, but Jazz did not. "Yes, I do suppose I cut that piece of road off… But Prowl, what would you have me do? What do you want from me?"

Prowl was silent, before he looked steadily into the visor. "I want you to come to Iacon, formally register as an Autobot, and then join me here. Without a fuss."

Luckysteal leaned back. "That was my intention all along."

Prowl took a deep, recycling breath. "I want you to give up being Luckysteal."


	13. Chapter 13

"You _what_?" The tone, soft and deadly, made Jazz quail inwardly.

"Prowler-" he began, and Prowl raised a hand, optics fixated on Luckysteal.

"Brother, when you come, I'll need you all the time. I don't want to suddenly find you gone due to your job, and I don't want a second-hand piece of work because you were too busy out saving those beneath you. I'll need all of your effort, and all of your willingness to cooperate."

Luckysteal leaned across the table. "Do you realize what you're asking? I was the one who created the guild. Me. No one bothered to help until after I had it set up, and had the ball rolling. Nobody thought I could do it."

Prowl nodded slowly. "I know. I know it isn't something I'm asking that you'll be able to agree with a snap of your fingers. And I'm willing to give you time to think it over. But I need my brother, not a thief in this next part. And besides, you did say that you knew exactly whom you could have this taken over by, correct?"

"I do. But unfortunately they aren't working out too well. If I were to announce them, nobody would believe me."

Prowl fell silent for a few moments, before his vocalizer flickered on to say something-

There was a scream as complete and total darkness fell in the building. Luckysteal was instantly on his feet as Jazz yanked Prowl underneath the table. "Everyone, stop moving!"

Feet froze as his voice pierced the darkness, restoring a semblance of calm among the thieves. Luckysteal padded to the door, throwing it open to the common room. "Everyone, engage night vision, and start getting out of here in your usual order and time. No pushing, no shoving-"

A beam of light broke the darkness, and Luckysteals optics went wide. "DECEPTICONS! EVERYONE BAIL OUT NOW!"

There was no need for any extra urging. Silently and quickly the theives dispersed, as Jazz went by, practically dragging Prowl. "Wait, Luckysteal, what about-"

"Go, I'll wipe all of the data and follow you." Luckysteal murmured, optics on the lit up shapes on his visor. "It'll only take a few seconds. Alert the Autobots."

Prowl nodded, and Jazz glanced at his leader, tense and wary as a coiled up spring. "Just don't get caught, eh? It would be sad for me to have to rescue you like you did to me."

"Right." Luckysteal murmured back, before heading towards the door. The Decepticons were still firing randomly, trying to hit the blackened wraiths that fled through secret passages. Luckysteal didn't think it would be the best idea to admit how small of a chance he had of making it out alive at all. By the time the Decepticons got organized enough to actually start picking off the mechs, the thieves would be all gone. Except for one. Him. Yes, this would be a close call indeed.

The slightest smile crossed his face, before being replaced with a serious look as his feet cared him lithly towards the side room. He might live for these times, when adrenaline pounded through his body, but he couldn't be ruled or captured by such things, he needed to think clearly and fast on his feet to get out of here…

He reached the consol, and began typing into it urgently. The consol held data on targets, the mechs they had hit, and how many members there were currently in the guild. It might not seem like a lot, but used properly it could wreck havoc among the thief guild.

Without a sound, the consol locked, wiping the data off of its computer chips. Luckysteal nodded, and turned to flee. A gun barrel slammed into his face, and he was knocked backward against the consol. The Decepticons had finally got themselves organized.

_Slag, I'm going to die-_ Luckysteal grabbed the consol for support, optics flickering towards the ventilation shaft behind the lone Decepticon. The 'Con smirked, optics glinting in triumph.

With a silent prayer, he charged, sliding beneath the Decepticon and into the ventilation shaft. The Decepticon shouted in surprise, and rapidly began calling for backup as Luckysteal crawled through the ventilation shafts, catching up to a few of the lagers. "Hurry up, they found the ventilation shafts." He snarled, and the mech looked back.

"I can't. One of those shots got lucky and blasted me in the hand. I'm going here with one hand." The mech whispered back. Luckysteal nodded, and slung one arm around his shoulder.

"I'm going to get you to the next door building, and drop you into the remelt." Luckysteal murmured back, CPU racing to figure out a way to get out of this mess. "I want you to stay there and act like your part of the offlined mechs waiting to be melted until the 'Cons finally get out of here, got it?"

"Yep."

Luckysteal slid through the ventilation shaft, and paused, before kicking out the grill. "Here you go. See you soon, right?"

"Aye Aye Chief." The mech paused. "What about you? I heard over the comm. link that the 'Cons had the entire building surrounded."

Luckysteal smirked. "Has anyone caught me yet?"

The mech shook his head slowly, optics dark. Luckysteal nodded, and lowered the mech in, before crawling onwards. The mech below quickly blended in with the grey forms lying scattered about.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Inferno balanced the cubes, humming happily to himself as he knocked on the control rooms door. "Come in." Red Alerts voice drifted out to the fire truck.

He frowned slightly, staring at the door. Red Alert sounded extremely… down. His head poked around the door to find Red Alert slumped in his chair, staring at the screens morosely. "Red? Ya alright?"

"Yes Inferno. I'm alright."

One of Infernos optic ridges rose as he pointed out gently, "If you're fine Red, then I'm a 'Con."

Red Alert hunched further into his chair at the comparison. Inferno stepped into the room, optics on his smaller friend. "C'mon Red, ya can tell me what's bothering ya."

"My brother figured out who I am." Red Alert said dully. "And he wants me to give up something that I worked vorns on."

Inferno rocked back onto his heels, CPU scrambling, sympathy welling within him. "Ow, that's gotta hurt."

Red Alert made a slight noise, hand rising slightly, as if to make a motion. Instead it fell limply back to the consol. Inferno stepped next to Red Alert, placing a hand on his shoulder. Red Alert stiffened slightly before looking up at his larger friend. "Ya aren't gonna be able to decide with a straight CPU if ya don't drink some energon."

Red Alert nodded, accepting the cube from Inferno to sip at carefully. Inferno settled into the nearby chair, before perking up slightly. "Oh, by the way, who is your brother?"

"Prowl." The name fell out of his mouth before he could stop it. "Prowl? Ya mean the mech who everyone thinks is on the fast-track for being second-in-command?"

"Yes."

"Huh, no wonder he came after ya." Inferno said musingly. "Though, my brother did say Prowl was a good mech."

Red Alerts optics sidled over to the side to look at Inferno. "Erm, Inferno, who is your brother?"

"Why, Ironhide of course. The bodyguard of Prime." Inferno said, surprised. "Didn't I tell ya that?"

Red Alert wondered if the day could get any worse. Inferno was brother to one of the most heavily armed mechs, well, now that he thought of it, it did make sense. "No Inferno, you didn't."

"Ah… Sorry Red, guess it slipped my mind." Inferno sipped at the cube, optics dancing with some inner memory of his sibling, before he glanced at his friend. "Red, what do ya say to you and me watching a movie?"

Red Alert choked on the energon. Here he was facing the crisis of his life, and Inferno wanted to watch a movie? Inferno, as if sensing his thoughts, smiled pleadingly. "C'mon Red, it'll give you a chance to think it over, and then ya can just forget about it for a short amount of time…"

Red Alert nodded slowly, silently giving up. Inferno wouldn't allow him to sit around and do nothing, nor would Inferno give up begging and pleading until Red Alert agreed.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert watched the pictures flash across the screen as the movie began to actually hit an interesting part as the mech began actually solving the puzzle. Silently Red Alert admitted to himself that Inferno had actually done pretty well with his choice of movies. Instead of choosing an action flick, he had gotten a mystery, which actually challenged the security director-

Inferno began to snore softly, jolting Red Alert from his thoughts. He glanced at the fire truck a tad bit guiltily. No, Inferno had chosen the movie strictly for Red Alerts tastes, and had gotten bored enough to fall into recharge.

His mouth clamped together as he glanced at the sleeping fire truck, allowing his optics to reflect the love he felt, though he doubted he would ever, ever admit it. "Oh Inferno." He murmured softly, before standing to glance around.

Infernos room, like Red Alert expected, was just as relaxed as Inferno was. It showed some hasty signs of straightening up, but all in all… Red Alerts optics glinted in triumph as he caught sight of the heating blanket, draping the end of the berth. Quickly he flicked in on, and slung it over the snoozing Inferno before settling back down on the couch.

Several orns later, as the movie came to a close, Inferno showed signs of waking. Red Alert settled back, allowing the end-credits to run over his auditory receptors as Inferno stretched beneath the blanket, before unexpectedly curling up and falling deeper into recharge.

Hesitantly Red Alert reached out to shake Infernos shoulder. He didn't have time to yelp before a hand sot out to catch him and Inferno growled, "Don't ya dare."

"Inferno?"

"Ironhide, Ah swear, ya dump one more turbo-rat in mah booth ah'll kill ya." Inferno murmured sleepily.

Red Alert shook his head, "Inferno, really, it's me, Red Alert!"

One bleary optic onlined to squint suspiciously at him. "Red?" Both optics onlined in sudden panic and remembrance as he sat up. "Oh slag, ah'm sorry Red!"

"It's fine Inferno." He looked down at his hand, still caught by Infernos strong grip. Inferno also looked down, before flushing guiltily. "Sorry, sorry."

The strong grip lifted off of Red Alerts wrist as Infernos hand reluctantly let go. "Sorry Red, didn't mean to fall asleep."

Red Alert shrugged. "It's fine Inferno. One cannot have everything in life. Besides, this time you can pick your own favorite movie."

Inferno gaped at Red Alert for a second longer, before his CPU kicked his body into action. Red Alert was willing to stay for two movies. _Yes oh yes! Score!_ Inferno internally celebrated, before flipping the vid to face Red Alert. Red Alert made a slight noise, before shrugging. "Alright…"

Inferno grinned as he slid in the vid. Action, action, action-

0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl reclined in the seat, staring at the opposite wall. Red Alert, to all appearances, hadn't even left the base. It had been a relief to know Red Alert had gotten out safely, but it was a measure of how upset Red Alert was over the request to not even bother telling him an answer.

Jazz sat down next to Prowl, "Erm, Prowl, what was up with you and Luckysteal?"

"I was merely lying down what I needed from him."

"I know, but still, asking him to give up the thief guild? He sweated blood to get it up and running. Took him vorns to get us all connected and such. And he had all of those police officers after him-"

"He had information in the police. If they had gotten anywhere close to figuring out his true identity he knew instantly." Prowl interrupted.

"That may be Prowler, but still, he's Luckysteal! Ya know, the guy who founded the thief guild in the first place! He ain't gonna give it up just because you ask." Jazz insisted, "He has been challenged to telling whether or not he's able to hold onto the guild more then once. Each time he completely swept everyone away from sheer ability. Ya know that raid on Iacon City Bank?"

"There was a raid?"

"Yeah, Luckysteal managed to pull it off so smoothly that they never noticed until long after, and even then they kept it top secret. If a mech could do that, then why would he ever give up the guild?"

Prowl didn't say anything, not able to explain the reasons. It was just a feeling, a gut feeling that insisted he pull his brother out of his deadly business before something horrible happened.


	14. Chapter 14

Red Alert shoved the energon around in his cube, staring at the sleeping Inferno. Once again, Inferno was asleep in the middle of his action movie. He wondered if it was his fault that Inferno was asleep, and if he was truly that boring, demanding, or otherwise stupefying.

He never seemed to have this amount of trouble getting attention when he was Luckysteal-

His CPU flinched away from the thought of the guild and the demand Prowl had given him. He was… going to go insane. The thought of loosing the guild, something that he had worked so hard to make, made him completely nuts.

His head buried into his hands. All of his equipment… it was tried and true, he himself as Luckysteal was the top of the pack. It would be impossible to suddenly announce that he would no longer be at the head. Because he knew himself too well. He would watch, insist on watching the guild to make sure it ran smoothly.

And there would be no way to stop himself, because he was Luckysteal, and Luckysteal couldn't be denied, caught, or stopped. _Unless my hands got blown off and I was told that I would never be able to have steady hands due to poor reconnection._

Red Alert snorted. Such things happened only in stories, not in real life. There was no slagging way any medic could be poor enough to reconnect the wires so poorly that-

A soft beep of his comm. link made him pause. "Yes?"

"Red Alert."

"Prowl…"

"Have you decided yet?"

"No."

Prowl said nothing, and Red Alert sourly wondered when he had stopped liking the police officer. Maybe when he had been given an unreasonable demand? "Prowl- Give me more time."

"I'll give you three months. After that, I will take it you said no."

"Very well. Three months…" Three months suddenly seemed like an incredibly short time.

Inferno stirred, as a particularly loud explosion echoed in the room. Red Alert ignored it, believing it to be the movie still playing, until he glanced at the screen. Soft music, the couple kissing- No- that wasn't explosion material-

With a shout, he was out of the room and sliding into the control room. The former guard lay murdered in his seat, the screens showing Decepticons pouring in-

WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! The alarms shrilled as Red Alert pressed the attack button. Hs carefully slid the murdered mech off of his seat, before sitting down, ignoring the energon soaked padding. He had bigger fish to fry-

"Decepticons have breeched the perimeter on the Northern side. I repeat, Decepticons have breeched the perimeter on the Northern side, everyone report for duty-"

"Red?" Infernos startled voice broke over the comm. link. "Red? What-"

"Inferno- I need you to go to the northern side of base now! We got Decepticons pouring through-"

"Right-"

Inferno back could be seen in the cameras as he took off down the corridors, and Red Alert settled in to watch. He had to make sure no one would attempt to circle up from behind…

Screens split as his optics flickered, taking it all in. Without even realizing it, his hand twitched, as if about to pick a lock. He wanted a lock to pick; that was for certain. At least with locks the only thing you had to worry about was getting shot at, not having to worry that everyone else was going to be shot at.

The slightest sound behind him was the only warning he had that someone had sneaked up behind him. And the sound was only the softest clink of metal. With a yelp he ducked and turned, gun subspacing into his hand to stare at three pairs of optics. _It's one of those Reflector Units. _Red Alert had one dizzy moment to think-

Those units had made good thieves. Too bad most of them were cruel enough that they had gone over to the 'Con side. But he didn't think that even they would betray Luckysteal. Not that they knew he was Luckysteal at this moment.

He threw himself forward, cannonball-like into one of the mechs, and fired. The other two flinched as their third component was violently offlined. Red Alert stood slowly, optics warily on the other two. He didn't want to kill them, even if they were 'Cons, for the simple fact that they were part of the thief's guild.

They had no compunction about killing _him _however, and the two charged. Red Alert brought up his gun, and fired. There was a brief moment in which he actually thought he was going to die- before one of them dropped. "Red?"

"Inferno? What are you doing back here-"

"The medic needed help, and he claimed that you had medical background. And you weren't answering your comm. link so I came to check up on you."

Red Alert quickly checked the time. Five breems since the fight had started. Five. It was like someone was trying to kill him. First, earlier, there had been the raid, now there was a second raid, all in a single day. Yes, something was going wrong with his life. Horribly, badly wrong.

Was someone out to get him? Or was it simply a warning? Inferno knelt down next to the unconscious mech. "Here, I'll take them to the brig-" Red Alert heard the whistling sound moments before blackness ate at the corner of his optics. Inferno bellowed in anger, and charged.

That was all he saw before darkness covered his vision, and there was nothing more.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert twitched, and groaned softly, making Inferno sigh in relief, even as he nursed his own CPU ache. _Captured. Slag it… I hope that the rest of the base managed to escape. _Red Alert twitched again, and Inferno bent over his smaller friend, sighing in relief.

At last Red Alert was waking up. Inferno had been getting worried by the long, long recharge. "Red? Are ya awake?"

Optics blearily onlined, and Infernos spark, despite the extraneous circumstances, skipped a beat as Red Alert gazed up at him. "Inferno? Wha-"

He curled up, clutching his CPU. Inferno automatically reached out, hand resting on the side of the head. "Red? Are ya alright?" His warmly accented voice grew thick with worry.

"I-I'm fine." Red Alert said after a moment. "I simply- ow…"

For a moment Red Alerts body went limp, before Red Alert slowly shook his head, climbing to his feet. "We- We have to get out of here."

"How? The keys are on the opposite side of the room Red."

Red Alert staggered to the bars, optics darting around. "Inferno- how good are you at keeping a secret?"

Inferno glanced at Red Alert, confused. "It depends on what the secret is Red. If it's something that can hurt others, then Ah ain't gonna keep it."

"No-" Red Alert whispered the words so softly, Inferno almost missed them. "No- you wouldn't. But, in the end, this secret is only going to hurt our friendship."

"Red?" The fire truck was becoming really confused now. Surely Red didn't have that big of a secret-

The glint of a thin metal sliver glinted in the light, as Red Alert twitched it into the hole. Inferno watched in stupefaction as Red Alert worked, optics half-shuttered. Different slivers of metal flicked in and out of subspace as the Lamborghini prodded the lock. Less then half a breem later, the lock opened. "Come one Inferno."

Inferno didn't hesitate to follow after the slowly walking Red Alert. "Red, where are we going?"

"Nearest ventilation shaft big enough. I recognize where we are."

"Really? Where are we?"

"We're in a former police station in Iacon. I was here… once long ago. In my quest to capture Luckysteal-" An ugly laugh tore itself out of his vocalizer, while Inferno had the bad feeling that the situation was spiraling out of control.

"Red." Red Alert didn't turn around. Inferno stopped, crossing both arms, and glowered at the back of Red Alert. Once upon a time he would've enjoyed the view. He was still enjoying the view in fact- but he wanted answers. A deep, uneasy gut feeling had risen from within him, warning him to go no further until he had answers.

Inferno had long ago accepted the fact that Red Alert would never be as talkative, or as open as Inferno sometimes wished he could be. The fire truck had also come to accept the fact that Red Alert would explain nothing until he had fully carried out whatever plan he had designed, and even then security issues would keep him from revealing the full scope. But nowhere, not even once, had Inferno ever heard of a security director that was able to pick a lock within a breem. "Red- What- how-"

"I'll… I'll tell you everything Inferno, as soon as we get somewhere safe. But as for now- will you please come with me?" The soft plea in his voice was impossible to miss, and tugged on his heart strings. But he wasn't stupid.

"Red- we can walk straight into a 'Con!"

"No- just up ahead is a special place where we can escape Inferno. Come on-"

Inferno gave in, uneasily following the smaller Lamborghini around the corner. There, Red Alert bent to tear up a corner of the floor. A large hollow area was shown under the tile. "Come on Inferno."

Red Alert jumped in without hesitating. Inferno paused, only for a moment, before jumping in after.

The black darkness waiting up ahead was only broken by the light that fell from above onto the Autobots. "Red?"

"One moment while I slide the ceiling back in place."

Inferno watched as Red Alert, quick and agile, climbed the tiny hand and foot holds up to the ceiling to slide it back into place. Complete darkness fell now, unbroken. "Erm… Red?" Inferno was proud that he could keep a level tone, because he felt a lot more like shouting his head off. "Ah don't think I can get through this."

A hand descended upon his. Inferno automatically clenched onto it. "Don't worry, I'll guide you out."

"You know the way?"

"Yes… I know the way."

The hand tugged him forward, and Inferno followed quietly.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert listened to Inferno move behind him, his own senses concentrating on what was before him. It was a lucky thing that the 'Cons had only taken out the weapons and nothing else out of the subspace. He was left with all of the highly-sensitive equipment that helped him get through the area.

He wondered how long he had been out- his internal chronometer wasn't working. Nor could he seem to figure out how they had landed themselves back in Iacon, instead of being at the Dome. Why had the 'Cons brought them so far? What did they want?

Inferno stumbled behind him, hand tightening around Red Alerts. Red Alert felt the slightest smile twitch across his face as he attempted to guide his friend through the darkness. Inferno hissed a soft curse as his head slammed against a wall. "Red- can I turn on my lights?"

"No- It might shine through the ceiling above us." Red Alert whispered back.

"Where are we?"

"We're leaving the police station now-"

Unexpected light flooded the area, and both froze. Red Alert slid into a defensive crouch, hand automatically tightening on Inferno. He wasn't going to let go- Inferno hand tightened on his, as the fire truck shifted behind him.

"Red Alert, I thought you'd come here soon enough."

"What?" Red Alert flinched as he glanced around, searching for the source of the voice. "Show yourself!"

A femme stepped out of the shadows, her red optics a cruel red in the harsh light. "Red, so pleasant to see you after so long. I thought you would escape from the brig soon enough."

Inferno was rapidly tensing behind Red Alert, he could hear the cables tightening inside of the fire truck. Quickly the Lamborghini snapped, "Why did you save us?"

"Fair is fair. I thought you'd probably leave the fire truck behind, but judging from the way you two are holding hands…" The femme smirked. "Looks like you've grown up some."

"What the slag do you mean by that?" Red Alert demanded. The femmes optics narrowed.

"Don't get fresh with me. Even if you did decide to no longer claim that you're my creation _I_ still remember that you are. And I don't think you want to make any loud noises. Mechs might hear us."

"Red?" Inferno questioned, glancing from femme to Lamborghini in surprise, "What-"

Red Alert brutally cut him off. "Inferno, meet my creator. Creator, Inferno."

The femme smiled, red optics glinting. "How's your baby brother doing?"

"Just fine. What do you want?"

"So directly to the point. I actually came here to warn you. The Thief Guild has had a leak, and the Decepticons are trying to gain information enough to blackmail all of the thieves into their army. They should be on a raid, oh, in a breem."

Red Alert body stiffened, optics resting heavily on her. "They _what_?"

"You got a traitor in your ranks. He offered the meeting places of the Thief Guild in each city in exchange for money. The other Decepticons are more then willing to capture the thieves and reprogram them into the army. I would suggest getting out of here."

Red Alert stared at his creator for a long moment. "Why- are you telling me this?"

"You're still my creation. No matter how much you hate me, I cannot forget one of my own blood. Besides, I think you would suicide if anything too bad happened to your precious Thief Guild _Luckysteal."_

Red Alert didn't hear Inferno take in a sharp intake, nor did he hear the softly creeping footsteps. "When did you learn-"

"It didn't take us too long to figure it out. I have to say I'm proud of you. It isn't often you can brag that your child managed to create a guild and keep it running through the war. Of course, I wouldn't suggest keeping it around until after the Decepticons forget about it."

Red Alert had the uneasy feeling that the ground was dropping away from beneath his feet- The sound of a gun being cocked was his only warning as he threw himself backwards, screaming, "Look out!"

There was the moments confusion as Inferno automatically tried to yank his friend back, and both went slamming into the wall from combined inertia. The femme skipped backwards, her own gun rising up. A pained scream tore through the room, as Red Alert doubled over, cradling his destroyed hand.

* * *

A/n: Yes, I know I'm evil. Poor Inferno, he be so confused :)


End file.
